Crossing Paths
by Iniora Nackatori
Summary: Nina's back in an all new adventure that has as few a crossovers as I can do! This is now a PG-13 for increased violance and bloodshead. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

Alright! I know I'm gonna be shot for not doing anything! It's a know fact! Just... read my newly updated bio. I've got a good explanation there! Also, I've changed Nina's age. It is no longer 16, it's something else for TGD. Go ahead and keep it how you have it, Flameshe, it's the least I can do for being such a late writer. Oh, *blah* mental speech!  
  
As to when the next chapter will be out, that is as random as the wind. I haven't typed myself into a corner yet, which is a good thing... But, just relax... Or don't, the choice is yours. REVIEW PLEASE!!!!  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
Starting Over  
  
"Jennifer!" a young girl with short, blond hair called out to me. I turned around and smiled. This particular girl was my friend, Ashley.  
  
"Hey, Ash!" I laughed.  
  
"Hey! You're almost imposable to catch now a days!" Ashley laughed.  
  
*Don't forget, Nina, you've got you-know-what this afternoon.* a kind, teenage voice entered into my mind. Nina's my nickname for those of you who are lost.  
  
*Don't remind me, Bee.* I mentally groaned.  
  
*Ah, relax! It couldn't be that bad!* a childish voice echoed.  
  
*If either of you two are close enough to Impy, please hit him up side the head.* I ordered. A mental groan came a few seconds later.  
  
"Hey, Jennifer..." Ashley whispered. I stopped all mental conversations right then and there. Ashley only used that tone of voice if something was wrong.  
  
"Ashley, what's wrong?" I demanded.  
  
"I've got a problem..." Ashley confessed as she pulled up the back of her shirt. I gasped, and I heard several telepathic gasps as three close friends of mine looked at the sight with me. Ashley's back was beaten and bruised to nearly no know recognition of it.  
  
"Names, now." I demanded, my anger reaching its peak.  
  
"I don't know..." Ashley cried, lowering her shirt, "They jump me every night on my way home now for no good reason." Tears were starting to rise in Ashley's eyes.  
  
*I hate this town...* I mentally groaned.  
  
"Ashley, you don't have to say anything else. Just relax and take a deep breath. One of my friends will follow you home tonight to make sure you don't get hurt." I promised. Ashley knew that my friends were strong, and at times I think she suspected that they might be gangsters and that I was their ring leader.  
  
"Thank you, Jennifer. Just, please ask them not to hurt the men who did this too much. I... I don't want to see them get hurt, even though they did this to me." Ashley pleaded.  
  
*There will be no blood shed* a strong voice told me.  
  
"Alright, I'll make sure the boys I send out know." I smiled. The bell to head to our last period class rang loudly at our two story school, and I nearly shrieked.  
  
"Oh no, not Home Economics!!" I whined, lightening the mode. Ashley laughed brightly as we parted ways in the crowded hall.  
  
*Black, be sure you stay hidden. Bee, I want you to head out too, just be sure she doesn't see your third eye!* I mentally ordered.  
  
*You got it, Nina.* Bee's voice replied. Black's answer was a simple hum.  
  
*Hah, you've got Home Eco next!* Impy laughed. I mentally pounded him. *Ow*  
  
While this boring class drags on, I'll go ahead and fill you in on the situation. My name is Jennifer Orina Elderado Micelles. Well, at least it is now. I used to have a different name, but after Miranda, my adopted mother, died, I got placed back in the foster care system. I'm alright with it though, because not even my deranged adopted father, Elrond, can break up my family.  
  
First off in my great family, you've got the elder, wiser, and generally level headed Digimon, BlackWarGreymon, called Black for short. Then, you've got the one that acts my age, the total hot headed Beelzemon who is affectingly called Bee. Finally, you've got your average juvenile delinquent, Impmon, also known as Impy.  
  
Me? I'm a 14 year old, annoying, High School brat. I wear black jeans, blue tops, and black jackets with red necklaces. I know how to handle a sword, and my hair and eye color is brown. I just recently got adopted here in New York, and am now attending school with a couple very good friends, one of which you have already met.  
  
About a year ago, I went dimension hopping with my three friends, managed to become telepathically connected with them somehow, and made a whole bunch of new friends in the process. Nobody in this world knows where I went to. I just seemed to vanish for a couple of weeks. It was during my vanishing spell that Miranda got sick of cancer and died during therapy. My current parents are complete snot noses and think I run a gang because I continuously vanish after school. I tell them honestly that I'm not and that I'm out with my three best friends.  
  
*Scholl's out, boys.* I warned as the final bell rang.  
  
*We're already in position.* Bee stated.  
  
*We shall keep our eyes on Ashley, you should go back home.* Black ordered. I lazily got on the buss after making sure Ashley knew she'd be safe.  
  
*Alright Black, let's keep our promise.* Bee mentally sighed. I sighed as I lessoned in on their boring chats.  
  
It was about 8 o'clock when something went wrong.  
  
*Uh, Nina, you got a couple of minutes?* Bee's voice came streaking into my mind. I was in the middle of a math problem, but I pushed that aside.  
  
*What's up, Bee?* I asked as I stared lazily up at the stars.  
  
*We got a BIG problem.* Impy stated. I paled.  
  
*You should come down to the caves. You're going to need to be here to help Ashley calm down.* Black sighed.  
  
*Ashley, at the caves? What the HELL?!* I snapped.  
  
*Hey, it's not our fault we had to bring her here to treat her wounds!* Bee snapped. I gulped.  
  
"Miss. Micelles, I have to go out now!" I yelled downstairs as I ran for the door.  
  
"Jennifer, why?" Miss Micelles asked from the kitchen.  
  
"Ashley called me on our mobile com system saying she needs some help!" I yelled. Good thing I was used to giving little white lies.  
  
"Be back by ten!" Mr. Micelles ordered.  
  
"If I can, I will!" I countered, opening the door. With a quick jump, I was on my skateboard and zooming down the busy New York streets within an instant.  
  
*Now, start telling me what happened!* I ordered as I raced down the New Yorker streets on my way to the coast line.  
  
*We were keeping an eye on her when she just vanished in front of an alleyway. We tried to find her again, but we were too late. Somebody in the gang that beat her up had known we were sent after her so they had hid her pretty well. By time we found her again, she had fresh sores all over her. She's alright besides the fact she's been mugged, again, and she's unconscious.* Bee explained. I kicked myself mentally.  
  
*If anybody wakes her up, they have me to deal with.* I warned. Three mental gulps replied my demand.  
  
When I reached the cave Black, Bee, and Impy lived in, I gasped. Ashley looked like a bloody rug with bandages.  
  
*Note to self, kick mugger's butt.*  
  
*Already did that.* Bee smirked. Ashley started to stir and Black, the closest to the torch, blew it out. That left only one torch, the one on the table close to Ashley, lit.  
  
"Hey, Ash..." I whispered as Ashley turned slightly, moaning.  
  
"J...Jennifer? Wh... where am I?" Ashley asked.  
  
"In the cave system by the sea." I replied, being as gentle as I could while I helped her up.  
  
"The mugger!" Ashley snapped up.  
  
"He's been dealt with, so relax." I ordered. Ashley looked up at me with scared eyes.  
  
*Did you...?*  
  
*Are you nuts? Of course not!* Bee countered to my unasked question.  
  
"He's not dead, and he's not to badly hurt. One of my friends took care of it and brought you here." I explained.  
  
"Where are they now?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Who, my friends? They're around." I smiled. Bee's bike glimmered by the entrance.  
  
"Who's bike is that?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Oh, that's Bee's. He's one of my friends." I replied.  
  
"I'd like to meet your friends." Ashley smiled.  
  
"No you wouldn't!" I countered.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because... they're not exactly looker friendly..." I rattled off the first answer that came to my mind.  
  
*We should let her know we exist. I think it would be better for her.* Black stated, razing his claw up to the torch.  
  
"I don't care. I still want to meet them." Ashley countered. I sighed and looked over at Black.  
  
"Alright, but you're not allowed to scream under any circumstances, got it?" I replied. Ashley nodded yes to the request. "Hit the lights, Black." A dull red flash illuminated from behind Black's claw as the torch was lit.  
  
Ashley's face paled, and she nearly screamed. "m..mm....mmm...."  
  
"Monsters, Digital Monsters." I corrected, finishing Ashley's word for her.  
  
"Digimon for short." Impy giggled. Ashley looked over at him and pulled herself in. After all, who'd like a little purple imp in a red scarf and smiley face belly near you?  
  
"My name's Bee, the little brat over there is Impy, and the big guy's Black." Bee introduced, emptying the cartages and placing his guns on the table before Ashley. Black removed his claw guards and placed them next to the table as well.  
  
"You have nothing to fear from us, Ashley. You see, there are our weapons, in plane view. We have no defenses except for our physical strength and abilities." Black stated kindly. Ashley felt herself become entranced by Black's yellow eyes, calming her down. They didn't seem mean at all. In fact they seemed nice, kind, loving, and gentle.  
  
"So relax a little!" Impy laughed.  
  
"You... you three saved me?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Actually, it was Black that brought you here and me who... immobilized your attacker. Impy just warmed the pace up." Bee smiled.  
  
"See, told yah I'm not a gang ringleader!" I laughed. Ashley looked up at me, almost completely lost.  
  
"How...long have you known them?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Uhm.... Let me think..." I sighed, trying to think of an accurate time number.  
  
"A year to this day." Black replied, leaning up against the wall.  
  
"Yeah, it is a year to this day, isn't it?" I smiled.  
  
"Tell me everything!" Ashley demanded. "That is, if you don't mind..."  
  
"I don't got a problem with it, do you?" I asked over to the others.  
  
"So long as you get your story straight." Bee huffed.  
  
"I always get my story straight!" I countered.  
  
"Yeah, right!" Bee huffed, rolling all three of his eyes.  
  
"Do you really want to take this outside?" I asked, glaring at the Mega.  
  
"Only if it has to." Bee replied, smiling evilly.  
  
"Uh... what're they talking about?" Ashley whispered over to Impy.  
  
"Whenever they get into a fight like this, they play a game. Tonight's game's tickle tournament." Impy explained. Ashley anime fainted.  
  
"A game of tickle tournament?!" Ashley screamed, "How could Jennifer ever win against somebody that big in a tickle tournament?!" Bee and I looked blankly over at Ashley while Black just chuckled silently.  
  
"You don't have to worry about it being fare, Ashley. Nina's strong enough to beet me at that game if she ever wanted to." Black chuckled. It was Ashley's turn to stair blankly at Black.  
  
"Nina?" Ashley repeated.  
  
"It's my nick name. Sort of like my screen name. Yah see, there's this whole group of gifted kids called Tamers who raise Digimon like Black, Bee, and Impy to fight other, bad Digimon. Amongst the Tamers I know, I'm called Nina." I explained. Ashley made an oh sound to show she understood.  
  
"So... uh... I guess this is where you stay after school?" Ashley laughed.  
  
"Yep! It ain't much, but it's something!" I laughed. Without warring, all three Digimon suddenly tensed and a loud, annoying beeping I had hoped to never here again started up.  
  
"We've got trouble!" Bee warned, standing up and grabbing his guns.  
  
"Oh yeah, I'd say!" I replied, grabbing my D-3 Digivice from my pocket, "20 squares out to the.... NORHT?!"  
  
"The north?!" my Digimon repeated.  
  
"What's wrong?" Ashley demanded.  
  
"Remember when I said I raised these three to fight evil monsters? Well, an evil monster is about to come and attack a lot of people to the north of us." I explained. Ashley made an oh sound again.  
  
"So, we're going to go beat it up?" Ashley asked.  
  
"WE'RE?! No way, Ashley, you are not coming in your condition!" Bee countered.  
  
"But, I might be able to help. How far is it?" I handed her my Digivice.  
  
"You tell me." I replied. Ashley studded the screen, and then went pale.  
  
"If this is right, then each square is a mile. 20 miles north is... my house!" Ashley cried.  
  
"Oh shoot! She is to coming! Black, you and Impy head on out! We'll be right behind you on Bee's bike!" I ordered. Black had his claw guards on and was flying out of the cave with Impy clinging to his back in a matter of seconds.  
  
"All aboard!" Bee joked, hopping on his bike. I got in the front, and Ashley hung tight in the back.  
  
"Hang tight, this virus only knows one speed. FAST!!!" With what one could call a sonic boom, Ashley found herself hanging on to the tail that had been wrapped around her like a safety belt and choking the driver of the bike tightly.  
  
*I tried to warn her....*  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Okay, so that's the first chapter. Do you like? Do you hate? Do you want to shoot me?  
  
Bee: If you want any of the above, please drop us a review.  
  
Trunks: Until then, though, we're asking for ideas.  
  
Lena: She's stuck in another fic called Wild Arms Omega  
  
Janus: Any and all help is appreciated.  
  
Until next time, this is Iniora Nackatori and company saying......  
  
Everyone: PLEASE REVIEW and see yah next chapter! 


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, you may now...do whatever....  
  
Thank you for the reviews! Big thanks to Corran for doing the editing!  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
Awaken, Lucifer!  
  
Current location, Ashley's house. Current problem, there's a mega level Digimon named Phoenixmon who, well... is a BAD blast from the past trying to destroy Ashley's house. Other problem.... he's winning!!  
  
"Bee! Black!!" I screamed, running over to the two fallen Digimon. They were in a wall at the current moment.  
  
*Don't stick around! Run!* Black ordered.  
  
"We can't run!" I yelled back. Ashley was stuck in a corner, nearly crying her scared wits out.  
  
"What're we going to do?!" Ashley demanded. I glared up at Phoenixmon and he glared down at me.  
  
"Go suck on your egg, Phoenixmon!" I shouted, shaking my fist at the bird. He chuckled down at me.  
  
"Oh... how bravely sounded, Nina," Phoenixmon laughed. "It's been nearly a year since you and your partners deleted me. And now, courtesy of Master Elrond, I am back." My partners and I froze to our spots in shock.  
  
"Elrond?!" I gulped, reaching instinctively for my necklace and sword.  
  
"Looking for these?" Phoenixmon laughed, extending a claw to reveal....  
  
"Shoot! He's got the items!" Impy cursed.  
  
"The... items?" Ashley asked.  
  
"The Crimson Items are the housing for three very powerful jewels. So powerful in fact, that if anyone besides a chosen digi-destined touches them, they go insane from the increase in power," Impy explained.  
  
"But, there are only two items," Ashley countered.  
  
"Two gems are in the sword and the third is the necklace," Impy clarified, glaring at Phoenixmon.  
  
"Is there any way to get them back?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Beating him..." Impy growled.  
  
*But to do that...* Bee started off,  
  
*We would have to become Chaos Lord again...* Black finished.  
  
*Is that even possible without me holding on to one of the jewels?* I asked. The last time we were in a deep jam with a crazed jewel holder, it took almost all of my life energy to help Bee and Black Spirit Digivolve to Chaos Lord.  
  
*It is if I grab one for you!* Impy shouted, charging the bird.  
  
"Impy, DON'T!!!!" I screamed. But, it was too late. Impy threw himself into Phoenixmon's claw and snagged the necklace.  
  
"FOOL!!!" Phoenixmon countered, taking his free claw and swiping Impy into a pile of rubble.  
  
"IMPMON!!!!!" I screamed. Bee, Black, and Ashley stood frozen to their spots, not sure of what to do, or what to say. I ran straight to the insane imp's cold, bloody body and grabbed him in my arms.  
  
*I got the item for you, Nina...* Impy stated, lifting up the necklace in jerky movements.  
  
"Don't try to move!" I ordered, tears starting to rise.  
  
*It's okay, Nina. I'll be back, someday...* Impy stated, smiling. I grabbed the jewel he was holding onto and held it and his hand tightly.  
  
"I won't let you die, Impmon..." I stated, grasping the jewel tight, "I can't let you die..." as single tear ran down my cheek and hit Impy in the face, near his own eye.  
  
*I'll be fine...* Impy lied. I grabbed the jewel tighter.  
  
"Yes, you will..." I cried, pulling Impy up closer to me, "I'll never let you go, I'll never..." the tears ran free from my eyes, poring into Impy's wounds.  
  
"Never." A single tear fell onto the jewel in our hands, and the rest was covered in a red flash. Bee and Black felt their strength return as they started glowing, and stood from their holes.  
  
*Let's get him, Black!* Bee growled, glowing brightly as his wings and clothing began to vanish.  
  
*For Impmon!* Black replied as he too started to become a bright light, his weapons and armor vanishing as well.  
  
"Beelzemon and BlackWarGreymon Spirit Digivolve to....." the two now completely light stated in unison as they joined together.  
  
"CHAOS LORD!!" The now fused Bee and Black had a cape similar to the vampire Myotismon's, a mask much like that of Myotismon's but black with small purple stripes. It showed two brilliant green eyes and a dark blue complexion with small, Beelzemon-like fangs, offsetting the completely black armor covering the mon's body. A sword was sheathed at its right side and a completely round, black shield that looked like the holy knight Digimon Gallantmon's was also on its right.  
  
"You DARED to kill one of OUR friends?!" Chaos Lord's strong, regal voice that held the strength of Black's voice, but the immaturity and cockiness of Bee's boomed in anger as his eyes glowed red, "Such an act is unforgivable!!"  
  
"Wh... what just happened to those two?!" Ashley demanded. Phoenixmon noticed her, and decided to make his move, knowing that he was already beat.  
  
"Oh no, no, no Chaos Lord, you won't attack me. For, if you do, you kill your new friend," Phoenixmon laughed, flying over to Ashley and trapping her in his claw.  
  
"On the contrary, you will be the one to die!" a voice that sounded like something off an angel show declared.  
  
"Wh... How is that possible?! The jewels are not yet at full power!" Phoenixmon gasped and his eyes doubled to four times their normal size as he saw the owner of the voice.  
  
"That may be true, but you didn't take into account Nina's love for her family, and friends," the voice replied. "Or, their love for her."  
  
"You!! I just killed you!" Phoenixmon spat. Chaos Lord also turned to look, and gasped, his eyes bulging slightly.  
  
"It... it couldn't be...." Chaos Lord gasped, looking at the speaker, "Impmon?!"  
  
"The name is Lucifer now, Chaos Lord," Impy, or should I be saying Lucifer, smiled as he flapped the first set of his 6 pitch-black wings, causing a feather to land on my cheek. It glowed slightly before vanishing. With a groan, I opened my eyes and looked up, gasping the second I did. Lucifer looked down at me, his eyes covered with a black helmet, and smiled warmly. His wardrobe was like that of Angemon's, only ALL black with silver decorating the streamer around his legs, the wording glowing in red, and the stuff on Angemon that's blue was now silver. He also had something like a black kimono on that went nicely with the Angemon style pants. And his hair, that was pure white.  
  
All this with me being held firmly in his arms about 6 feet up ABOVE the ground.  
  
"Welcome back to the living, Nina," Lucifer smiled. I blinked several times before shaking my head to clear it of the cobwebs.  
  
"Wha... What just happened?" I asked, gulping.  
  
"NO! I WILL NOT ALOW THIS!!" Phoenixmon shouted, "Phoenix Flame!!" with a roar, Phoenixmon opened his mouth and spat out several jets of flame. Lucifer looked up at the oncoming threat, and did all but blink at it.  
  
"Shell of Darkness!" Lucifer countered, raising a black orb of energy around us. I, who didn't know the shell was there, buried my head into Lucifer's cloak and held tight to the edges of the fabric.  
  
"Infernal Sword!" Chaos Lord shouted, unsheathing his sword and charging it with fire that he then used to slash out at Phoenixmon. The bird yelled in pain as it stopped its attack, releasing both the items and Ashley from its claws.  
  
"Time to go!" a female, wizard-type Digimon stated as she grabbed Ashley's wrist and warped her away from danger.  
  
"But... how...?" Phoenixmon demanded as he steadied himself, a gapping gash showing in his right breast. The fire around both Lucifer and myself had died out, leaving the singed shell behind and still intact. With another flick of his wings, Lucifer canceled the orb.  
  
"The answer to that is simple," Lucifer smiled, floating down to the ground and helping me to my feet. "You forgot who you were trying to kill."  
  
"What... kind of an answer is that?!" Phoenixmon spat, hacking up small amount of blood.  
  
"A simple one if you thought about it," Lucifer replied.  
  
*Uh, Lucifer, I hate to break it to yah, but I'm lost also,* I admitted mentally.  
  
"I get it!" Chaos Lord's eyes grew wide with sudden realization, "Nina, it's the same reason we Digivolved in the first place!"  
  
"Because... I refused to leave you?" I asked, confused.  
  
"It's a multitude of that, and a few other things," Lucifer smiled as he crouched down and summoned his jet black staff, "You did the one thing the jewel wasn't expecting."  
  
"Huh?! Wait a second...!" I jumped.  
  
"You mean to say she gave her life, again," Chaos Lord laughed, "And the jewel didn't expect that?"  
  
"It would expect that for you two because, well..." Lucifer laughed, remembering the time we had all first met.  
  
"Because you tried to steal the items from us first, the gem thought my love for you would be less than it is," I whispered, stunned.  
  
*The Items are idiots.*  
  
"I fully agree with that!" Lucifer replied, taking off to go and finish the job.  
  
"So... because you gave your life, again, to save your little friend, he Spirit Digivolved? That is completely absurd!" Phoenixmon snapped, spiting fire at Lucifer.  
  
"Hey, what about my life isn't?" I joked, shrugging. Then, taking a more serious pose, "Let's finish this, boys! Use your ultimate attacks!"  
  
"Right! Chaos Blaster!!" Chaos Lord yelled, charging his shield until it grew bright red, then releasing the energy in a wide beam cannon like attack.  
  
"Circle of Darkness!" Lucifer cried, twirling his staff until it moves so fast if formed a pentagram mid air. From that step, Lucifer then took his staff, pentagram still in shape, and fired one long, thin beam of energy threw the center that turned into a ragging black fireball as it passed threw the middle.  
  
Both attacks hit at the same time, and both attacks canceled out Phoenixmon's screams of vengeance. The only thing remaining of the roasted bird was my Crimson Sword.  
  
"Incredible...." Ashley gulped, her eyes the size of creampuffs.  
  
"Humph! Over-achievers!" the female wizard huffed. I didn't even look behind me as Chaos Lord and Lucifer landed next to each other and in front of me.  
  
"Hey, Witchmon, long time no see. Now, you two feeling alright?" I demanded after I had razed my hand in greeting. Witchmon fell over anime style.  
  
"That's all you have to say to me after one year?!" Witchmon snapped.  
  
"Yes, that's all we've got to say," Lucifer smiled, "And yes, Nina, we're fine so stop doting over us."  
  
"No, because I don't have the hard proof," I retorted. The two suddenly glowed bright white, then returned to their base forms of Impmon, Impmon, and DarkAugomon, all three collapsing on top of me.  
  
*I told yah!* I complained as I wiggled out from under the pile.  
  
"Now, how the heck do I get them back to the caves?"  
  
"Don't bother. You four are needed back in the Digital World," Witchmon stated.  
  
"Wait, you're leaving? But what if another monster shows up?!" Ashley demanded.  
  
"You and your partner can handle it," Witchmon stated matter-of-factly as she tossed Ashley a yellow Digiegg and a yellow D-3. Ashley just barely managed to catch both without scrambling the egg.  
  
"Ashley's a Digidestend?!" I gulped, my eyes tripling in size.  
  
"Yes, so what? Someone needs to watch your half of New York while you're gone," Witchmon stated matter-of-factly again. I hated that tone of voice.  
  
"Wh... but... huh?" Ashley gulped, cradling the egg for the few seconds before it hatched into a yellow gelatinous mass. A shrill shriek followed.  
  
"Don't shout!!" I ordered, walking over to the mass. Before I could continue moving, though, the sword jumped up and started flying right for me. With a quick twirl, I was barely able to catch it and thrust it into the comfortable position its sheath had been placed at on my back, handle showing over the left shoulder. With a small squeal of metal, the sheath and strap suddenly appeared around the sword, forcing it to stay put.  
  
"So, it recognizes you... That can be a good thing and a bad thing," Witchmon pondered.  
  
"What was that all about?!" A small voice squeaked. We all turned to find Ashley now holding a little yellow fur ball with cat ears. Ashley all but dropped the ball.  
  
"It...changed..." Ashley gulped.  
  
"To answer your question, little guy, that was about me reclaiming a very important Item," I smiled, walking over to the cat ball and ruffling its head.  
  
"Uh-hem! Don't you have to lug those three back to your house and get ready for the journey ahead?" Witchmon interrupted.  
  
"Go study your spell books," I countered, petting Ashley's new Digimon, "Besides, it's not every day you get to see a newly hatched..." my sentence was interrupted by the ball changing into a little yellow kitten like Digimon.  
  
"Kittenmon..." Witchmon sighed, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Uh... yeah... that..." I stated, still petting the cat, "Ashley, for the record, I have nothing to do with this."  
  
"Uh... what do I do with him?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Some food would be nice," Kittenmon suggested in a kitten-like, juvenile voice.  
  
"Some food I can do. But, what about the mess?" Ashley asked, gesturing to the battle-scared field around us.  
  
"Leave it to the construction workers," Witchmon and I stated at the same time, shrugging. Ashley blinked at this.  
  
"A...all right..." Ashley replied, stuttering.  
  
"Ashley Lodi Thomas! What in the devil's name is going on around here?!" the annoyed voice of Ashley's mother screamed. Both Ashley and I flinched.  
  
"Hey, Mrs. Thomas!" I laughed, placing my hand behind my head in an embarrassed manner. Mrs. Thomas glared at me. We... weren't exactly on the best of terms with each other.  
  
"Ashley, I want an answer! And, what is that... that thing?!" Mrs. Thomas demanded, pointing at Kittenmon with a disgusted finger.  
  
"That... thing, Mrs. Thomas, is your daughter's new best friend," Witchmon spat, walking over to the pile that was my partners and holding her hands above them. Chanting a small spell, her hands glowed indigo blue and cast a light down on the pile of my partners.  
  
*Uh... that feels good...* the Impmon that was Bee sighed nicely as he rolled out from the pile and returned to being Beelzemon. Black stayed a DarkAugomon, but was also revived, groggily standing up on his legs and, much to Impy's disgusted, used Impy as a steadying post. Needless to say, Mrs. Thomas nearly fainted at the sight now before her.  
  
"Wh...what?!" Mrs. Thomas screamed.  
  
"Mom, it's alright. I'd like to introduce you to Kittenmon, my new Digimon partner," Ashley smiled, presenting the cat.  
  
*Yah know, my head hurts...* Bee complained.  
  
*Who's doesn't?* I replied, smiling. I received a glare from Bee in reply.  
  
"Y...You mean to tell me that a m...monster tried to destroy the town and that...that freak of a person you call your friends stopped it by helping those other monsters?" Mrs. Thomas stuttered after Ashley had told her about the past events.  
  
"Mother, that so-called freak saved my life!" Ashley protested.  
  
"I don't care, she's still a menace," Mrs. Thomas dictated, then grabbing Ashley's hand, "Come along dear. Let's get away from here. The cat stays."  
  
"No, he doesn't! He's my partner! I can't abandon him!" Ashley stated, wrenching her hand back. Kittenmon had retreated to the uppermost levels of Ashley's shoulder at this point.  
  
*We should stop this arguing,* Black suggested, standing up straight on his own.  
  
"Excuse me," Bee stated, walking up right next to Ashley, "I couldn't help but notice your arguing over something that can't be argued."  
  
"Who, or what, are you?" Mrs. Thomas spat, staring Bee down.  
  
"My name's Bee and I'm a good Digimon," Bee introduced, "Now look, you've got a choice here. You can pretend none of this happened and think that Kittenmon is just a new cat. Or, you can face up to reality and see that Ashley's got a job handed to her by destiny she's got to do and support her any way you can." Mrs. Thomas blinked at this.  
  
"What do you mean 'has a job to do'?" Mrs. Thomas demanded.  
  
"Uh! Enough of this wasted time!" Witchmon suddenly interrupted, "Beelzemon, you'll find the black portal spell to the Digital World on Nina's math homework. I trust you know how to use it?"  
  
"Uh... yeah," Bee replied.  
  
"Good. Nina, you have to hurry up and get going. You need to leave by sunset tomorrow and no later, understood? I shall handle this, take your partners and inform the Micelles of the current situation." Witchmon stated firmly as she walked up to Mrs. Thomas, "Ma'am, I believe we have a lot of things to discuss."  
  
"Uh..." Ashley muttered, "I know she saved my life and all, but is she trustworthy?"  
  
"In the most part, yeah. Don't fret, I'll be back ASAP!" I smiled as Bee threw his hands up in defeat at the situation.  
  
"Behemoth!!" Bee cried, whistling for his bike. With a loud boom, the bike fell out of the sky and landed solidly in front of us.  
  
"Homeward bound, Bee!" I laughed as we all piled onto his bike. Another sonic boom, and we were gone!  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Next chappy! Talking to the Micelles! See yah then! *kicked off computer by mother as curtain falls* Hey! I was still typing that! 


	3. Chapter 3

Here we go again!  
  
And, thank you to all my reviewers. I'm trying to get the future chapter firmed up with such things as when and how the gang'll get back together...*looks in Flameshe's direction* Hint, Hint Nudge, Nudge. Anyway, here's the story!  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
Family Matters  
  
*So, how exactly are we going to do this?* Bee questioned as he raced down the street towards my home.  
  
*The way we did it last time. Just walk on in and smile,* I replied, *Of course, last time, my parents didn't have a gun hanging on the mantle piece...*  
  
*Yeah, a hunting gun,* Impy stated. *I say you go in, tell them that you have some friends to meet, and ask them to put the gun up.*  
  
*They'd never do that.* I sighed. *Overprotective of themselves. Remember, they think I'm a gangster.*  
  
*Oh... yeah... forgot...* Impy muttered.  
  
*How about you take Impy in first, then let me and Bee in through the backyard?* Black suggested.  
  
*All right, then they can get over you guys easier... I think...* I thought- muttered, scratching my head as Bee parked the bike. The door to my house opened to reveal my father with the shotgun and my mother hiding behind him.  
  
"Hey, Mr. Micelles, Mrs. Micelles.... I...uh... have some friends I want you to meet," I stuttered, hand behind my head in an embarrassed manner.  
  
*Shoot! He's got the shotgun out already!!* I mind-gulped.  
  
*Don't worry. He won't fire it... I hope...* Bee mentally gulped.  
  
*Oh, real full of confidence, eh Bee?* I thought-muttered, standing slowly up off the bike. Taking Impy in my arms, I walked slowly and deliberately to the front door.  
  
"Now look, can we all just get inside and CALMLY discuss a few dozen things like a functional mixed family?" I tried, walking through the door with Bee and Black behind me. The Micelles had already moved back into the house and were still gawking at Bee.  
  
"Hi-yah..." Bee greeted as he walked into the living room.  
  
"I...it.... talked, Richard! The thing talked!" Mrs. Micelles panicked. I slapped my forehead in frustration.  
  
"Black, you know how to make coffee, right? In the kitchen, third shelf from the top, if you wouldn't mind. Bee, you go grab that scroll-spell- thingy from my room. Impy, park it on the table. Mrs. Micelles, Mr. Micelles, I suggest you take a seat," I ordered. Bee went upstairs to my room, Black entered into the kitchen, Impy parked his duff, and the Micelles groggily took a seat on the larger sofa.  
  
*Well, that's shock number one, two, and three out of the way,* Bee huffed. I let out a sigh as I pulled up a seat on the carpet in front of the sofa but behind the coffee table.  
  
"Mr. Micelles, Mrs. Micelles, I'd like to introduce you to Impy," I smiled, waving over at Impy.  
  
"Hello, name's Impy," Impy smiled.  
  
*Well, that was intelligent sounding, Impy,* I thought sardonically.  
  
"He's my youngest Digimon partner. Bee, the one who went upstairs, is the middle-aged one, and though Black might not look it, he's the eldest of the three," I smiled as coffee smells started filling the house. The scent more than the beverage started waking the Micelles up from their stunned stupor.  
  
"T...they're what?" Mr. Micelles asked.  
  
"We're Digimon: Digital Monsters," Impy explained, jumping up from the table.  
  
"M...monsters?" Mrs. Micelles gulped.  
  
"Don't take it the wrong way, these three are almost angels," I smiled, leaning back, "It's the ones that try to destroy the world that are the problem."  
  
"D...destroy the world?" Mr. Micelles gulped.  
  
"Uh... yeah... Yah see, your kid's a Monster Tamer, and to be specific, she's our Tamer," Bee stated as he walked back down stairs. He then dashed over towards the kitchen just in time to catch the tray Black was trying to carry into the room before it spilled on the carpet.  
  
"Whew, thanks, Bee," Black thanked as he too walked over to the room and took a seat next to me. Bee laid the tray down on the coffee table, revealing its contests to be coffee, cream, sugar, and assorted rolls.  
  
"Hey, we just needed coffee, not a whole breakfast spread!" I gulped, grabbing a roll.  
  
"You might just need coffee, but personally, I'm hungry," Black replied, grabbing several bread products as he lounged back. Impy grabbed about three and Bee grabbed five. I just grabbed the last roll and passed my 'parents' the last pieces of toast.  
  
"Thanks, Black," Bee thanked before he gulped down his breads.  
  
"I see another reason why they call them monsters..." Mr. Micelles gulped, noting the way the boys gobbled down their bread.  
  
"I... haven't really had time to train them on their table manners..." I confessed, blushing slightly.  
  
"So... uh..." Mrs. Micelles tried to start up a conversation, "This is the reason why you were always late home from school?" I slightly dulled at that topic and lowered my half eaten roll.  
  
"I... have to tell you two something," I confessed, my mood growing dark. The other three picked up on it and slightly slowed in their meals.  
  
"We're listening," Mr. Micelles replied.  
  
"You know in my record about my sudden disappearance around this time last year?" I asked. The two nodded yes.  
  
"During that time, there was a crisis in our home world, the Digital World," Bee stated.  
  
"We didn't want to, but we had to go and help sort the crisis out," Impy pouted.  
  
"Jennifer refused to leave us, so she came along too," Black somewhat smiled.  
  
"As it all turned out, the trouble was caused by a few corrupted Digimon and humans," I smiled sadly. "One of the humans who caused the trouble, my past father Elrond, is back again...My partners and I have no choice but to return to the Digital World and stop him at all costs."  
  
"Even if it means we must give our lives..." Black whispered.  
  
"Then we'll do it," Impy stated.  
  
"Because we know," Bee continued.  
  
"That we're the only ones who can do it and do it right!" I stated firmly, standing up from my spot. Mr. and Mrs. Micelles seemed slightly lost at all this, and blinked several times.  
  
"You.... you can't be serious!" Mrs. Micelles stated, jumping up from her seat, nearly spilling her coffee.  
  
"Jennifer, see reason here! Not even the police, CIA, and FBI have been able to stop Elrond. What makes you think that you'll have any chance?" Mr. Micelles demanded, also standing.  
  
"Take a look around, pop, and count the noses," Impy smiled.  
  
"We've faced Elrond before, when we were at half strength, and managed to beat him senseless. We should do fine this time around." Black stated factually.  
  
"But... but how will you even get there?" Mrs. Micelles stated.  
  
"We've got a couple of options," I smiled.  
  
"We either A) take a random computer terminal and hope we get to the right place. Or B) use this black portal command and warp there instantly," Bee smiled, holding up the floppy disk that had been in my room.  
  
"...All right...I see we have no say in the matter...." Mr. Micelles sighed, placing his coffee cup on the table. "Rachel, please go help Jennifer pack the necessary supplies."  
  
"B...but Richard!" Mrs. Micelles whined.  
  
"Now, Rachel," Mr. Micelles ordered, his voice becoming hard. "You three stay here."  
  
*Talk to yah later!* I smiled, walking upstairs with Mrs. Micelles to start packing the needed things.  
  
"Now look, I know I'm not an expert on these things, but I want you to promise me one thing, all three of you," Mr. Micelles demanded.  
  
"If it's that we'll make sure Nina lives, you don't even have to ask," Bee smiled. Mr. Micelles seemed a little confused, but brushed it off.  
  
"I'll take your word for it," Mr. Micelles sighed.  
  
"Good..." Bee sighed.  
  
"All set!" I laughed as I jumped down stairs. Mrs. Micelles seemed saddened about all this, but I laughed it off. "Relax, will you two?! I'm only going to be gone for a month at the most and I've got these three overprotective brothers to keep me alive!"  
  
"Brothers? Is that how you see them?" Mrs. Micelles spat. "As far as I can see, all they are is trouble. They're putting you into an extremely dangerous situation!"  
  
"I have to go, with or without them. Elrond is MY problem, and heaven help the person who tries to help him gain his dark power," I replied, looking squarely in my 'parents' eyes.  
  
"Ah man, the mood just turned sour. Let's get out of here already!" Impy jumped.  
  
"Right on, Impy! Last one to Bee's bike hatched from a rotten Digi-egg!" I laughed as I ran through the front door at top speed.  
  
"No fair!" the three remaining in my dust trail complained as they pilled through the door, stopping just for a quick second to say goodbye to my parents.  
  
"Remember! If she comes back with even a hair on her head gone, it'll be the dissecting table for all three of you!" Mr. Micelles warned.  
  
"Yes, sir!" Bee laughed, hopping on behind Impy. The riding order for the bike was me in front, Impy squished behind me, Bee with his arms stretched way out to the handle bars, and Black being supported by Bee's tail and his own natural balance.  
  
"Disk?" I asked. I was handed the disk by Impy who removed it from Bee's pocket.  
  
"Backpack?" Black asked.  
  
"Already stored in the bike, dummy," I replied as I inserted the disk. There was a whir of moving parts and a warming engine, then a blur as the portal opened in front of us.  
  
"Next stop, Digital World! Hang tight!" Bee laughed, revving his engine. With yet another of his classic mini sonic booms, we were off, tearing down threw cyberspace.  
  
*Get ready for the fight of your life, Elrond, because we're not letting you continue any more!*  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
And they're off! What'll they see? Who'll they find? Are they still being cursed by the stupid Black Portals?  
  
Bee: I hope not, 'cause if this goes like the last one did....  
  
*evil smile* Ha! No fears, everyone! I'm working on a special story just for Black Portal mess-ups that I might post upon its completion. And, thanks again to Corran Nackatori for doing the editing!  
  
PLEASE REVIEW! 


	4. Chapter 4

So, another day, another pain... Testing almost fried my brain, but I'm better now. So, let's get a roll on! And thanks to Corran Nackatori for doing the editing! Much appreciated! Ah yes, and thanks for the reviews! Now, on with the story!  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
Past Upon Present Upon Future  
  
There was only one word I could say or even think as we entered into the Digital Plane.  
  
"Shoot!"  
  
It was, put bluntly, a mess of a mess. We had entered into the main town, but it was now nothing but rubble. Data particles of the Digimon that had been killed in what could have only been a battle of monstrous proportions littered the landscape. Buildings were left standing by mere threads of concrete supports, and not one skyscraper was left standing. The streetlights crumpled into dust, glass everywhere. There wasn't a thing left untouched by destruction save only a few wandering Digimon.  
  
"Watch out!" a random Digimon warned as the building behind us lost its supports and started to fall.  
  
"Black, take care of it!" I ordered.  
  
"DarkAgumon Mega Digivolve to....... BlackWarGreymon!!" Black yelled as he Digivolved to his Mega form. Using one of his Terra Destroyer balls, he turned what was left of the building into dust.  
  
"That was close..." Impy panted.  
  
"Too close..." Black added as he landed.  
  
"Hey, what happened here?!" Bee demanded of the Digimon that had warned us.  
  
"Phoenixmon demanded to use our access gate. When we refused to let him use it he destroyed the town and barged through the gate anyway," the Digimon replied.  
  
"That jerk! I'm glad we sent him to Digi-hell!" I spat, curling my fist so tight my knuckles went white.  
  
"You... defeated Phoenixmon?!" the Digimon gulped.  
  
"Yeah, we did. Now, what can we do to help repair the damage?" I asked, smiling as I dismounted the Behemoth.  
  
"You may leave here at once!" an elder voice ordered. I whirled around just in time to duck an incoming fireball.  
  
"But...elder! She and her partners just arrived! And they defeated Phoenixmon!" the Digimon protested.  
  
"I do not care! All humans are evil! Once she is done 'helping' with the repairs, she'll most likely dominate this server!" the elder Digimon spat.  
  
"Uhm...excuse me, but who are you?" I asked, peaking my head back up.  
  
"I am Mysticmon, the wizard data type Digimon! I am the elder of this village. You shall leave!" the Digimon spat. He looked sort of like a taller version of Wizardmon, but with a longer staff and no hat or robe or mouth thing. And he had a really long white beard.  
  
"All we wish to do is help repair the damage caused by Phoenixmon. Is there a problem in that?" Black asked kindly.  
  
"Yes! You are Digimon corrupted by the power of a human! Human's are pure evil!" Mysticmon spat, pointing his staff back at me.  
  
"Whoa! Now back off a second!" I ordered, putting my hands where Mysticmon could see them, "I'm not evil. I just came here to help. I heard from a friend that the Digital World was in trouble, so here I am."  
  
"Lire! Trickster! Deceiver!" Mysticmon spat, "Leave here at once!"  
  
"Whoa! All right, all right, we're leaving!" Bee replied, picking me up and forcing me back on his bike.  
  
*Now wait one second here, Bee! They need to know we're the good guys!* I spat, as Bee rode out of town as fast as he could.  
  
*Yeah, but sticking around here won't help. We'll take up camp on the outskirts of town and prevent another attack if there is one.* Bee decided. I sighed and conceded.  
  
We had a nice fire and some food cooking and a good looking camp set up on top of a cliff overlooking the demolished town before the sun even tried to set.  
  
"They really hated me back there..." I sighed, looking down at the former city.  
  
"Hey, it's not your fault," Impy tried to cheer me up.  
  
"You're right, Impy...but...I still feel like it is..." I sighed. A sudden explosion rocked the camp, and the remaining town.  
  
"What the hell?!" we all jumped, echoing the one thought on our minds in unison. The town was now aflame, and a BlueMeramon could be seen as the source of the trouble. I cursed something in German and received an 'I don't believe you just said that' look from all three of my partners.  
  
"Let's get moving!" I ordered, dousing the campfire.  
  
"Right...!" Impy jumped, but as soon as he did so, he suddenly found himself airborne with a slightly deeper voice. Those of us still grounded blinked several times as the now Lucifer hovered directly above us.  
  
"What the...?" Lucifer questioned as he did all but blink at his new situation. Nobody had time to say anything, though, as another explosion rocked the town below us.  
  
"Questions later, helping them now!" I ordered, running down the cliff as Black and Bee got airborne as well.  
  
*We'll take the high roads, you take the low roads!* Bee laughed.  
  
*And we'll all meet up in Dixie!* I laughed.  
  
*You're crazy, yah know that?* Lucifer sighed as he descended for his attack.  
  
"Hold it right there, BlueMeramon!" Lucifer, Bee, and Black all ordered at once. BlueMeramon caught his heart in his throat as he looked dead at the three before him.  
  
"Not you two!" BlueMeramon gulped.  
  
"Not us four, you mean!" I laughed as I ran to a panting stop behind my partners.  
  
"Four? All I recognize is three..." BlueMeramon gulped, suddenly realizing who the imp in the crowd was.  
  
"What? Just recognized me?" Lucifer laughed, smiling evilly as he steadied his staff.  
  
"N....no! Impossible!" BlueMeramon gulped.  
  
"Nothings imp-possible around here, Blue," I laughed, "Get it imp-possible, Impy, "imp"?"  
  
*Never, ever try a joke like that again, please....* Bee begged.  
  
"B...but...!" BlueMeramon gagged.  
  
"No buts!" I ordered.  
  
"Unless you want to have a worse fate than the loss of your sight, you'll leave right now," Lucifer ordered.  
  
"And send a message back to your boss that we're back," Bee laughed.  
  
"And should he chose to run like the coward he is, he shall find us blocking his path," Black continued.  
  
"Because we are not going to allow him to hurt anyone ever again!"  
  
"I...don't believe this!" BlueMeramon gulped, "I won't believe this! Devil Fire!"  
  
"Hit the deck!" I yelled, dropping to the ground as the blue fireball passed over my head. The others had scattered too; through the air.  
  
"Double Impact!" Bee yelled, taking his two guns and firing them at the exact same time. BlueMeramon managed to doge both bullets by jumping way up high.  
  
"Darkness Spell!" Lucifer cried, holding his staff in his left hand while raising his right one towards the heavens. A clap of black thunder suddenly illuminated the sky, streaking into his waiting hand and forming a ball of pure black energy. Lowering the ball and taking careful aim, Lucifer started chanting a curse, which upon its completion, sent several energy bolts at BlueMeramon. As soon as the bolts hit, BlueMeramon found himself in a dark energy-cage-like chain.  
  
"Nice attack!" I commented as Lucifer then took the chain in his hand and started spinning BlueMeramon around like a top.  
  
"Just say when, Black!" Lucifer laughed, spinning the demon Digimon around his head much like a person would with a lasso.  
  
"When!" Black ordered. The chain suddenly broke, sending BlueMeramon flying into one of Black's spin kicks.  
  
"Home run!" I laughed as BlueMeramon went flying off into the horizon, making an anime star point in the distance.  
  
"And he's way, way out of here!" Bee commented, holding his hand up to his eyes to block the sun and get a better look at the now flying Digimon.  
  
"That's gonna leave more than just a little mark in the morning..." a passing Digimon winced.  
  
"I thought I told you...!" Mysticmon started up again. We all cut him off at the same time.  
  
"We know, we know! Leave here and never return!" we all countered at the same time. Mysticmon took a double take at our reply before shaking his head to clear the quickly forming cobwebs.  
  
"Then why did you defy my words and return?!" Mysticmon demanded.  
  
"Because, we couldn't sit idly by while innocent Digimon got killed!" I spat as Bee, Black, and Lucifer landed behind me.  
  
"A lie!" Mysticmon spat back, "Why do you continue to tell lies?!"  
  
"Why do you continue to be so stubborn-headed?" Lucifer demanded, stepping forward.  
  
"Wh.... Lucifer?!" Mysticmon gasped, turning to look upon Lucifer with a shocked, startled, and slightly scared eye.  
  
"Huh? How do you know his name?" I demanded, pointing over my shoulder at Lucifer.  
  
"Why is he with you?!" Mysticmon demanded, "If this be another one of your tricks then...!" A ball of yellow energy started gathering at the end of Mysticmon's staff as he lowered it to about my head level.  
  
"Hold it!" Bee ordered, grabbing the staff and holding it back up to a nice high height.  
  
"Nina hasn't lied to you, or tricked you, or deceived you," Black stated.  
  
"And as to the reason I am with her," Lucifer picked up, "She is my Tamer, plain and simple."  
  
"Your... Tamer?!" Mysticmon jumped. "But she is a human! She is unfit to be the master of your power!"  
  
"Who said I'm the master of his power? He can do whatever he wants to so long as it doesn't result in anyone getting killed, hurt, injured, or likewise," I replied factually. Mysticmon blinked at this before his stubborn-headedness kicked in.  
  
"Lire! You shall pay for such lies!" Mysticmon shouted, wrenching his staff free from Bee's grasp and again aiming it at me. Before anyone knew what was going on, I had dodged another attack from Mysticmon, had the Crimson Sword drawn, and half of his staff was on the ground while the other half was still in his hands.  
  
"Will you just cool off for a second?!" I snapped, taking the Sword in one hand and pointing it at him, "I have lied to no one here, and not only that, but we've tried to help you repeatedly! And what do we receive in thanks? A freaking half-dozen lighting bolts to the head!! Now what in the name of the Digi-Gods has got you thinking that I'd want to kill you?!"  
  
"Th...that can not be...!" Mysticmon gulped, inspecting my sword from a safe distance away. "If that is the Crimson Sword then...!"  
  
"It is the Crimson Sword and here's the Crimson Gem in plain view on my neck!" I snapped, "Now, answer the Digi-loving question!!"  
  
"Please," Lucifer added.  
  
"F...forgive me, Lords of the Digital World!" Mysticmon cried, throwing himself on Lucifer's feet, "I did not know she was the chosen one!" Lucifer jumped up at that, going a good 6 feet back away from the crazy mon.  
  
"Whoa! Stand up, bub!" Bee ordered, reaching down and picking the aged wizard up off the ground.  
  
"Take a deep breath and explain what is going on," Black ordered.  
  
"Lucifer, brother of the Lord of Chaos, please forgive me!" Mysticmon begged, "Had I know she be the one then..."  
  
"Slow down, Mysticmon, it's all right," Lucifer replied, moving forward, "Calm yourself and tell us what it is that you speak of."  
  
*Hey, you're pretty good with this acting Godly stuff,* I complemented as I replaced the Sword.  
  
"Very well, Lord Lucifer... I...shall take you back to what is left of my home and explain it all to you..." Mysticmon sighed, coming back to his senses.  
  
"That is all we could ask for," Lucifer smiled.  
  
"Follow me," Mysticmon stated, leading the way.  
  
*All here who think this has just gone from crazy to utterly insane, say I.*  
  
*...I...* (3x)  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
So, what's up with Mysticmon suddenly going crazy? And, why is Lucifer being considered a Holy Lord? More importantly, why am I asking you?! You guys are the readers, not the writers!  
  
Bee: *sigh* You actually got two up in one day? Cool.  
  
Yeah, I know. It's really close to a miracle... See yah next chapter! 


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you for all the reviews! Again, thank you Corran for doing the editing!  
  
Flameshe: FORGIVE ME!! I didn't know there were errors!! (PS: The dictionary at my house is about as thick as a two layer cake, so I sort of like to avoid it when possible...) Anyway, here's the story!  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
The Past, a Legend, and Holy Mons  
  
*You know, right before I jumped off that log I was sitting on and Spirit Digivolved to Lucifer, I did feel a little strange...* Lucifer confessed as we continued walking behind Mysticmon through the rubble streets of his now all but completely demolished town.  
  
*Could be that even if you hadn't jumped, you would have returned to being Lucifer again,* Bee suggested, *I remember that right before I Digivolved back to being a Beelzemon that every part of me wanted to Digivolve back. It was as if...*  
  
*As if who you really were was calling out to you, commanding you to Digivolve, and there was no way to fight it.* Black interrupted.  
  
*Black, you just took the words right out of my head ,* Bee stated, slightly nervous.  
  
*It could be you're supposed to be in your current forms permanently,* I stated, *I just hope Bee and Black don't get stuck as Chaos Lord...*  
  
*I doubt we will,* Black replied.  
  
*Yeah, if we were supposed to stick as Chaos Lord, then we'd be stuck as him right now,* Bee laughed.  
  
*You're probably right... Whoa! That's Mysticmon's place?!* I jumped as we came to a semi-huge mansion covered in green and gold. It looked like some kind of ancient tomb dedicated to a great Digi-God or something...  
  
"Here, great Lucifer, is the shrine I have called my humble home these past hundred years," Mysticmon sighed. "Inside is where I shall tell you all that had transpired since your last appearance here 5 million years ago..."  
  
"F...five..." I gulped.  
  
"Million..." Bee gulped.  
  
"Years ago?!" we both snapped in unison, gawking over at Lucifer.  
  
*Hey! I have no clue what the old mon's talking about!* Lucifer protested. After sticking our jaws back in place, our little tour group moved inside.  
  
Inside, though, all our jaws hit the floor again. There were gold statues of great Gods, green paintings of feasts, marble staircases, beautifully designed tile mosaics, and about half dozen other such things that definitely made it look and feel like a church for Digimon.  
  
*Holy...* I gasped, looking over at a statue of the Crimson Items, Lucifer, and Chaos Lord. *Guys.... You really need to take a look at this...*  
  
"What in the name of the Digital World?" Bee gasped as he, Black, and Lucifer came over to look at what I was gawking at.  
  
"There, great Lucifer, is the statue of your family. Your broken sister placed inside the Crimson Items, your elder brother, Chaos Lord, who was later split in two, and of course, yourself," Mysticmon explained.  
  
"My... broken sister?" Lucifer questioned.  
  
"This story shall be long and it shall be tiring, but I see it must be told," Mysticmon sighed. "Come, great Lord, you and your companions should sit," We all just shrugged as we took a seat on benches that looked like something from a Roman coliseum.  
  
*Roomy...* I thought as even Black managed to sit on the cushioned bench.  
  
"Five millennia ago by our time, the Digital World entered a time of civil strife and chaos...." Mysticmon began. Without warning, the Crimson jewels began to glow and the scenery around us shifted to a great and bloody battle field.  
  
"It was during this time of civil strife, you and your family came to their Godly status," Lucifer, Chaos Lord, and a young female Beelzemon-like Digimon could be seen getting ready for a REALLY big fight.  
  
"Chaos! Are you nuts?!" the female demanded, flicking her wings free of dust while holding her sword tightly. A very familiar red jewel could be seen glittering around her pale blue neck.  
  
"We're out of options, Athena!" Chaos snapped.  
  
"But... what happens if we fail? Good 'ol pop Myotismon will have us for lunch!" Athena stated.  
  
"We have to run that risk, sis. If we don't stand up to our own father, then who will?" Lucifer countered.  
  
"And besides, you already stole his sword and gem," Chaos replied.  
  
"But they were promised to me to begin with. I just collected early," Athena countered with a cold smile.  
  
"Look," Chaos turned, facing Athena, "Look all around you. Do you really want our father to destroy all of the Digital World?"  
  
"...No..." Athena replied, lowering her head, "But I don't want to lose my brothers either!"  
  
"And we don't want to lose you," Chaos replied, taking Athena firmly in his arms.  
  
"We'll never allow any one of us to be harmed," Lucifer smiled, grabbing both Athena and Chaos in a large, winged hug.  
  
"But that promise could not be kept..." Mysticmon's voice interrupted as the scene abruptly changed. It was in the middle of a blood-red battlefield. Lucifer and Chaos were up against a corner and about to be chopped down by Myotismon.  
  
"Lucifer! Chaos Lord!" Athena cried.  
  
"Goodbye, my so-called sons!" Myotismon laughed, launching a wave of bats at the two. Before anyone could move, Athena had thrown herself, back first, into the wave of bats, taking the lethal hit at its peak power.  
  
"Athena!" the two brothers cried as they both grabbed Athena mid-fall and carefully lowered her to the ground. Even Myotismon seemed completely shocked by this behavior.  
  
"Athena, why...?" Lucifer cried, tears streaking down through his helmet.  
  
"How...could I let my brothers die?" Athena coughed.  
  
"Athena... Don't die! Please!" Chaos Lord begged, tears also running uncontrollably down his cheeks. Despite their please, Athena still started to glow and changed into data bits.  
  
"Don't worry, big brothers, we'll never be separated..." Athena's voice giggled as she vanished in a field of red data, leaving only her sword and necklace behind. All three of the gems suddenly glowed bright, sucking in the data that was Athena.  
  
Myotismon just laughed.  
  
"How foolish! Does that rat of a daughter think she can counteract the darkness I've place in the jewels?" Myotismon laughed, "She'll never be reborn! Never!"  
  
"Be silent, father!" Chaos snapped, standing up faster than one could say boo to.  
  
"You have caused an unknown pain throughout the Digital World.... And now... and now you do this, to your own daughter?! Disgusting!!" Lucifer snapped.  
  
"For Athena..." Chaos whispered.  
  
"For our family..." Lucifer replied.  
  
A blinding red flash obscured everything, leaving only two glowing Digimon behind in its wake.  
  
*We... should be dead... We used all of our energy...* Lucifer gasped mentally.  
  
*D.... did I just hear your thoughts, Lucifer?* Chaos jumped.  
  
*And I heard yours...* Lucifer gulped. A young laugh suddenly stopped their worrying.  
  
*You two elder brothers are so funny to watch!* Athena laughed as she appeared in a glowing, translucent form.  
  
*Athena!* the two jumped.  
  
*Now, calm down. You see, because I gave my life to save you two, I'm allowed to be reborn. But, I'm not allowed to be reborn for some time...* Athena whispered.  
  
*Yo...You'll come back to the living eventually, won't you?* Lucifer asked, hopeful.  
  
*Look for the girl who carries father's items. She'll be me reincarnated,* Athena stated, disappearing into a fog. *And, don't try to go too overboard being Digi-Gods, okay?*  
  
*Digi-Gods?!* the two jumped.  
  
*Uh-huh. Because you two were willing to risk it all to save the Digital World, the powers above awakened your true selves. You two were always meant to have the power of Gods.* Athena smiled, then saddened. *But there is a darkness in the future you two will have to face as mortals, so you'll have to be sent into a temporary oblivion...*  
  
*We understand...* Chaos smiled.  
  
*So long as we can still be together, forever,* Lucifer smiled.  
  
*Forever...* Athena whispered before she fully vanished.  
  
Another bright flash filled the room and we were all sitting back on the benches.  
  
*Holy...* I gulped.  
  
*No way this could be for real...* Bee gulped.  
  
*But, somehow in my heart I fell... I feel that it is real...* Lucifer gulped.  
  
*As do I. So, in truth...We all really are family...* Black muttered.  
  
"That is the truth, so it is recorded in the annals of time," Mysticmon sighed, closing a book that we hadn't noticed him open.  
  
"H...how...?" I started to ask. Mysticmon raised his hand for silence.  
  
"You have heard of the fabled Spirit Digivolution?" Mysticmon asked.  
  
"Of course," Black replied.  
  
"That form of Digivolution is granted only to those who are the reincarnates of Chaos Lord and Lucifer. Athena's great power lies in her items," Mysticmon explained, "She is the one who is able to trigger the necessary ability in her brothers."  
  
"But why is it then that Chaos Lord was split in two?" Bee jumped.  
  
"Because his power was too great to keep in only one mon," Mysticmon replied, "And as I can see now, their time to walk on the soil of the Digital World again has come."  
  
*I guess that explains how we managed to enter into your mind, Nina...* Bee gulped.  
  
*And why we are able to hear each other's thoughts,* Black tagged on.  
  
*Great... we're dead Digi-Gods reborn. Anybody besides me get the creeps about that?* I asked.  
  
*No, not really.*  
  
*Good, for a second I thought I was going insane again...*  
  
"But, there is one thing I must warn you of before you start out again in an attempt to stop the corrupted human." Mysticmon warned, "This world has become fearful and resentful of humans. The Digimon shall treat you with even less respect that I did."  
  
*Why do I not like the sound of that?* I gulped, standing up.  
  
"Thanks for the warning, Mysticmon. I think we should get rolling pretty soon..." I finished with a fake smile.  
  
"Very well. This town shall be your safe haven should you or any of your allies be in need of rest," Mysticmon declared as the doors to the Digi- Cathedral opened.  
  
"We'll keep that in mind..."  
  
"Farewell..."  
  
Skipping ahead to when we had made camp....  
  
*Yah know, if everybody's going to hate humans, then how the heck are we going to go around normally?* I asked as I lay down at my partners' feet, using Black's lower leg armor as a pillow. It wasn't really all that uncomfortable, surprisingly.  
  
*We could always have you pose as our pet,* Lucifer joked. I bolted straight up and snapped my fingers in a 'Eureka!' way.  
  
*Yah know for another bird brain, you just had a brilliant idea!* I laughed. Lucifer looked at me, and you could tell that he had blinked.  
  
*You know I was kidding, right?* Lucifer asked. I smirked.  
  
*You may have been kidding, but it still was a great idea,* I replied. Bee cracked open an eye and looked straight at me.  
  
*Nina, you've lost it. How are we going to convince people that you're our pet?* Bee demanded. I lowered myself back on Black's armor and sighed.  
  
*...By simply saying that she is,* Black replied, *Think for a moment. We're three Mega-level Digimon. If asked why we're keeping her around, tell them that she was our Tamer and kept us alive in her world. But now that she's in our world, we're at least giving her the common courtesy of staying alive.*  
  
*What about if somebody does something... a little... dark...?* Bee put lightly. I smirked.  
  
*Then I'll either A) grit and bear it, or B) one of you three can tell him to knock it off.*  
  
*Without blowing our cover? That'll be a little difficult... But, possible.* Lucifer smirked.  
  
*So, just call me Nina the pet Tamer!* I smiled, *Night, y'all!*  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Iniora: A dangerous plan has been put into play in order to try and keep Nina's head on. Will they be able to do it? And, what sort of stuff's going to happen to Nina, the pet Tamer? Heck, why am I the one asking?! Oh well, you'll just have to REVIEW and wait for the next exciting chapter!!  
  
Corran: Iniora now the Narratory-person. But what does the review board have to say?  
  
Bee: Absolutely nothing. We're on temporary break.  
  
Trunks: We need it after helping Iniora get just these few chapters done.  
  
Lena: We might come back to work later...  
  
Janus: *pops in holding four bowls* Who ordered the chocolate ice-cream?  
  
Everyone on stage: I did!  
  
Janus: *sweat drops* Oh boy.... This might take awhile....  
  
Iniora: While you sort that out, I'll close the curtain and say, "See yah next chappy!" *curtain closes, ending story* 


	6. Chapter 6

Alright! Let's roll!!  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
The Pet Tamer  
  
*Okay...so...* I sighed as we rolled/flew into another town. It didn't take two seconds for several Digimon to clear out of our way. We stopped in at a restaurant, and the waiter looked at us, then screamed.  
  
"That human is not allowed!!"  
  
"She's our pet, and we're all hungry. If you don't want our cash, we'll go someplace else," Bee spat.  
  
*Where'd you get that? Jerry Springer?* I mentally smirked. Bee just sighed.  
  
"Your pet?!" the waiter jumped, "How did you manage to tame a Tamer?"  
  
"Think a second, bub. We're three Mega-level Digimon, and she's just one weak little human female. You do the math," Lucifer replied.  
  
*WEAK?!?! All right, all right...* I sighed, mentally tightening my fist in anger. The waiter erupted into laughter.  
  
"I like your style! Meal's on me!" the waiter laughed as he bounced back into the back room. Perhaps this is a bad time to mention that our waiter was a Toadmon.  
  
*Hey, free lunch!* I mentally laughed as I, like a good little pet, took a seat next to my master, Black. We were in a Mega-sized booth, with me up against a wall, Black on the outside, and Bee and Lucifer sitting across from us.  
  
"So, BlackWarGreymon, notice anything good on the menu?" Bee asked casually as he examined the menu.  
  
"...Nothing that has caught my eye, Beelzemon," Black replied. I hadn't been given a menu, so I just fiddled my thumbs in my lap. I kept my head low, and didn't make eye contact with anyone. I tried to look as depressed as possible. After all, I was supposed to be a pet.  
  
"Hum... This looks nice," Lucifer commented as he pointed out a cheeseburger. I absentmindedly licked my lips in hunger. Toadmon came bouncing back with three glasses of water.  
  
"Here's some water for you mons!" Toadmon laughed. Again, I absentmindedly licked my lips from thrust and hunger combined.  
  
"How about an In-Training cup of water for our pet?" Lucifer suggested, "We don't want her to dry out. After all, we need her to carry our stuff up to the hotel room later."  
  
"A good idea! I'll be right back, ribbit!" Toadmon laughed as he bounced away.  
  
*Man, the water's not a problem. It's the food that'll be hard to convince him to get,* I sighed. Bee smirked at that.  
  
*No it won't. We'll tell him our second excuse. Hey, he's back,* Bee jumped.  
  
"Here you are, pet!" Toadmon laughed as he flung a glass of water at me. There were two good things that happened. One, I caught the glass before it could slam into my head, and two, Toadmon had stuck a sipper lid on it.  
  
"...Thank you, Lord Lucifer..." I whispered, my voice soft in an attempt to show a broken spirit. Toadmon laughed.  
  
"So, you taught her to be agile? Interesting..."  
  
"How else is she going to dodge our weakest blows where we're sparing?" Bee laughed.  
  
"I see! So you use her as a moving target? How excellent! Now, what can I get you to eat?" Toadmon laughed.  
  
"Well, BlackWarGreymon, what are you having?" Lucifer asked.  
  
"...A cheeseburger will be fine," Black replied.  
  
"I think I'll have the same," Lucifer smiled.  
  
"Make that three, and an In-Training burger for her," Bee tagged in as he handed the menus back to Toadmon. Toadmon again erupted into laughter.  
  
"Fattening her up? I'd say let her starve, but she's your pet!" Toadmon laughed as he bounced back to the back.  
  
*He should count his blessings that I'm being a good little pet...* I glared, staring bullets into the floor.  
  
"So, do you think it's wise to rest here tonight? Or, should we press on to the next town?" Lucifer started up the next conversation.  
  
"There isn't another town for several miles. More miles than we can cover in one day to be exact," Black stated.  
  
"And I'm just about out of supplies, so I guess we stay here tonight," Bee smirked.  
  
"When we find a hotel, you are to bring our bags to our room and stay there. If we so much as hear that you've disturbed someone, I'll be the one doing the beating. Is that clear, Nina?" Black demanded.  
  
"....Yes, Lord BlackWarGreymon, that is clear..." I whispered.  
  
"Good," Black replied, a slightly saddened looks in his eyes.  
  
*On second thought, this idea of having you act as a pet is one of the worst ideas on record,* Black thought-muttered. Toadmon came bouncing up with the food. The burgers the Digimon got were all but perfectly set out. Mine, on the other hand, was burnt to a near crisp.  
  
"Enjoy!" Toadmon laughed mockingly as he bounced back to the back room.  
  
"Eat it, and be happy we so much as even thought about you this time," Bee played along.  
  
"....Yes, Lord Beelzemon...." I whispered as I started eating slowly.  
  
*And that Toad's all but dead...* Bee mentally complained.  
  
*They hate humans, really badly,* I thought. *Great, just great!* suddenly, a Starmon came busting threw the doors to the restraint.  
  
"I heard there was a human here! Show yourself, you varmint!" Starmon ordered, drawing his guns. Bee smirked.  
  
"Nina, go and show yourself," Bee ordered.  
  
"....Yes, Lord Beelzemon...." I whispered. Black moved a little so that I could crawl out.  
  
"There you are!" Starmon shouted. I kept my head low and never looked at him.  
  
"Yes, Starmon, there she is. Our pet human, Nina," Black replied in a low voice.  
  
"Your pet?!" Starmon jumped, "Well I'll be darned! Sorry about that, mons!" And with that, he left. We all exchanged mental blinks.  
  
It didn't take us long to finish the meal and to get a hotel room, thank Digi-gods!  
  
*Lord! This is being a serious pain!!* I collapsed on the extra sofa. I had indeed carried our bags up, which was just my backpack and a few other random items.  
  
"We're going out to do some supply shopping. You know the rules," Bee played.  
  
*And we're grabbing you something you can actually eat while we're at it,* Lucifer tagged in. I sighed, but kept up the act.  
  
"Yes, Lord Beelzemon." I replied in my now-familiar sad whisper.  
  
*Okay, we've got everything we need...* Lucifer sighed some time later. I was resting on one of the beds back at the hotel when the door to the room started to open.  
  
*Uh... somebody's coming into the hotel, guys!* I warned. I got off the bed, lowered my head in a bow, and waited for the door to open. Toadmon came bouncing in.  
  
"Hah! The human's alone! Get her, men!" Toadmon ordered. I gulped as several other Toadmon came running into the room with ropes. I didn't resist, though.  
  
"We're going to toss rotten fruit at you! And string you by your toes, and everything evil we can think of!" one of the younger Toadmons laughed. I gulped.  
  
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!!?" Black boomed as he came storming down the hallway.  
  
"Ah, Mr. BlackWarGreymon! Excellent timing! We were just about to go and show off your pet around town! You know, the usual let her get messed up a little and...!" Toadmon didn't have time to finish his sentence because Lucifer had grabbed him by the throat and hauled him into the air.  
  
"How our pet is treated is OUR say, not yours!" Lucifer snapped, "You shall unbind her and leave here, NOW!!" Toadmon squeaked an 'okay' before he was dropped flat on his butt.  
  
"Let's get out of here!!" the younger Toadmons shouted as they ran away top speed. They sort of forgot to untie me on their way out. Bee slammed the door shut as soon as the things they had bought and the others were inside. Black cut the ropes.  
  
"How dare that toad treat OUR pet in HIS fashion! Her fate is ours to choose!!" Lucifer steamed. He was ticked, but at least he kept the act up.  
  
*Nina, we drop the act. This isn't doing us any good and...!* Bee was stopped mid sentence by an explosion down below. Those Toadmon were getting the stuffing beat out of them by a DarkSaberLeomon.  
  
"You Toadmon promised me a human snack!!" DarkSaberLeomon shouted. I sighed as I rubbed the sores the ropes had cut into me.  
  
*Out the window... If we're going to drop the act, we might as well help them and show I'm not a bad gall,* I sighed as I opened the window.  
  
*Hey, that I can do. Letting you become a living pile of bruises, I can't,* Bee mind-smirked.  
  
"Hey, yah overgrown pussy cat!" I shouted down. DarkSaberLeomon looked up and me and growled low. "You want a snack? Then here I come!" with a sharp battle cry, I jumped out the window and drew the Sword. I landed in a crouched position between the dark mon and the Toadmons.  
  
"So, you've got spunk, eh?" DarkSaberLeomon laughed, "I like spunk in my kills..."  
  
"So why were you picking on little Toadmons?" I asked innocently as I stood to my full height, pushing the excess hair out of my face. The Toadmons blinked.  
  
"Wait...we nearly turned you into a living pile of bruises, and you're helping us?!" the Toadmon waiter jumped.  
  
"Yeah, because I'm one of the good humans who don't want the Digital World turned into a pile of scrap data," I replied with s smirk. Bee, Black, and Lucifer came running out of the hotel.  
  
"And, she's really not our pet. She's basically our sister," Bee smirked. The Toadmon waiter gulped, fear for his life suddenly rising.  
  
"...gulp..."  
  
"Don't worry too much. If anyone's getting the stuffing beat out of them, it's that little pussy cat," Lucifer smiled. The Toadmon still gulped.  
  
"Here pussy, pussy, pussy!" I laughed. DarkSaberLeomon jumped me, and I just counter-attacked. He tried to eat me, so I went off and used my sword to pry his mouth open. "Any time, guys!" Bee just smirked as he blasted the kitty cat a new hole in his paw.  
  
"Leave, and don't come back," Bee suggested.  
  
"What in tarnation!" Starmon gasped. I looked over at him and smirked.  
  
"Hey, bro! Starmon's here!" I laughed. Lucifer just sighed as he flew back up to the room to grab what little of our stuff was up there.  
  
"Sorry about the mess. We're leaving now," Black stated. Starmon blinked. Bee gave Lucifer a hand with the luggage, and we left.  
  
Yeah, I know it's nothing much, but we were tired and wanted to avoid another battle. Hey, we at least managed to get a free meal and learn that humans are hated to the ump-tenth degree around here now.  
  
*sigh* What else could go wrong? Forget I asked!!!  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Iniora: She asked what else could go wrong, and it's about to get worse. They go the direct approach next time. And yes, I'm out of it right now, so don't hurt me. This is all for today, folks. See yah next chapter! 


	7. Chapter 7

Let's get the ball rolling, shall we?  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
White Light  
  
I sighed as I rolled over in my semi-conscious-semi-sleep, back facing my partners' feet. I mentally took count of how many pairs of feet I was up against. Black's leg guards were my pillows, so that made one pair. Hard steel-toed boots were a little further down, so there's two. Wait.... problem. Where's the third pair of feet?  
  
*Don't wake the others worrying about me. I'm fine,* Lucifer stated calmly. I semi-forced myself to sit up, knowing that I eventually had to get all the way up anyway. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and blinked.  
  
*If you're alright, then where are you?* I asked. I couldn't see a hide or a hair of Lucifer anywhere around the camp sight.  
  
*Enjoying the sunrise... It's a lot easier to see above the trees,* Lucifer answered. I could hear the smile in his voice as he said that.  
  
*Wouldn't know, never been able to fly,* I smirked. Before I knew what was going on, a translucent black orb of energy surrounded me.  
  
*Relax, I'm the one doing this,* Lucifer smiled before I could sound an alarm to a possible kidnapping-in-progress. I blinked as the orb rose up through the parting treetops.  
  
"See what I mean?" Lucifer smirked as the orb stopped climbing right beside him. I got into a more comfortable position and looked out at the horizon. Sure, I had seen the sunrise before, but this was completely different. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky to block the view. Best of all, not a drop of smog or smoke or anything could be seen floating in the air, giving us a crystal-clear view.  
  
"...Picture- perfect doesn't even come close..." I whispered, drinking in the beauty of the sunrise. Lucifer sighed and looked at me out of the corner of his vision. You didn't have to be telepathically linked with him to know that he was upset. "Lucifer? What's the mater, bro?" Lucifer gave another sigh.  
  
"That's exactly what's the mater, Nina..." Lucifer sighed. I blinked from confusion.  
  
"Come again?"  
  
"The fact that we all really are related..." He turned to look at me, and I could tell that if he hadn't had a helmet instead of eyes, he'd be giving me the 'sad, depressed, and deprived' look he had always given me as Impmon when he wasn't getting something he wanted.  
  
"Actually, I think it's kind of great," I smirked, placing my hands behind my head. Lucifer sighed again.  
  
"No, it's not all that great. Now that we know that we're related, doesn't it seem strange? This evil that Athena prophesied about before her...you know...Doesn't it seem strange that the person causing the most damage from both her time and ours is your, her, fathers?" Lucifer explained. I blinked.  
  
"...Yah don't think that Elrond could be Myotismon incarnate, do yah?" I nearly jumped.  
  
"That's what all this is pointing too..." Lucifer sighed, "Being Lucifer...Spirit Digivolving...Getting you involved in a Digimon's problems...Even now as I watch this...I wish it had never happened!" Somehow, I managed to maneuver the bubble over behind Lucifer, reach my hands out, and grab him around the neck. The bubble popped the minute I got a good hold around Lucifer, probably because he lost what little concentration he had in way of controlling the bubble, I startled him so badly.  
  
"Whether you're my real brothers or adopted...Lucifer, Impy, whatever name or form you take...I still love you, Bee, and Black with all my heart. Fate's dealt us one heck of a cruddy hand, but we've still got to play it the way it comes..." I whispered into his ear, pecking him on the cheek. "Don't you ever forget that I love all three of you, no matter what happens." Lucifer brought his hand over mine and grabbed it tight.  
  
"....Jennifer.... Thank you, for giving me back my hope," Lucifer smiled. A warm feeling began to pass from his hand into me, and I began to feel more relaxed than I ever had before. I let out a minor squeal of shock as Bee's arms suddenly wrapped around both me and Lucifer.  
  
"Morning folks!" Bee joked, giving us both a huge bear hug at once. He was gentle about it, but he still nearly squished me to death in Lucifer's wings.  
  
"A little warning would have been nice!" I countered, somehow managing to whack the Beelzemon playfully up side the head.  
  
"And ruin the surprise of me and Black sneaking up here? I think not!" Bee countered, releasing his hold on Lucifer and landing me lengthwise in his arms.  
  
"We figured that you two might be watching the sunrise, so Bee decided to sneak up on you," Black explained as he too floated up next to us.  
  
"We were. And it was nice, and peaceful, and relaxing," my voice was all relaxed and gentle sounding, "Then he showed up and ruined the tender moment with a bear hug." Black chuckled at the amount of mock disgust I had managed to get into my voice.  
  
"Well sooorrrry, Mrs. Poetry writer wanna-be." Bee smirked. I looked up at him and blinked.  
  
"You didn't..."  
  
"Only a quick peak... through the first 27 pages," Bee admitted. I got really mad really fast.  
  
"BEELZEMON!!! You... jerk! Reading my diary!! There are only 27 pages I've written on in that thing, and you read them all?!?!?!" I snapped, nearly jumping right out of his arms. Lucifer called up that orb again, which stopped me from plummeting back to earth like a bowling ball dropped from the top of a seven story building.  
  
"I think you might want to run now..." Black hinted. I was still fuming, but not as mad as I had been before.  
  
"....If I ever find out that you've read my diary again, then I'll.... I'll.... I'll mess up the Behemoth's paint job!!" I screamed. Bee looked at me in mock fear and real shock.  
  
"Not the paint job!! Anything but the paint job!! I spent half of my time daily working on that paint job!!" Bee jumped. One thing you do not do is mess up Bee's bike. The results are NOT going to be healthy if you do.  
  
"You better believe the paint job, buster! So don't you DARE touch my diary ever again!!!" I snapped. Bee gulped, muttering a 'yes, ma'am' under his breath. Lucifer looked like he was going to fall over laughing and Black was trying desperately to hold back fits of laughter.  
  
But, again, fate decided that we weren't aloud more than a moment of peace. A huge explosion off to our right-hand side, which happened to be the west, caught us all off guard.  
  
"What the hell was that?!" Lucifer demanded, steadying himself. Our joy had been thrown into the wind as another explosion rocked the landscape.  
  
"We had better go check it out," I ordered. The bubble popped as I landed in Black's arms this time.  
  
"Right, hang tight," Black ordered as he and the others raced off at full speed towards the source of the blast. Wouldn't yah know it? It was centered at the town we had passed threw earlier, and being caused by none other than Starmon.  
  
"Dang nab it, human! I know you're still around here!! Show yourself!! I'll get you even if I have to destroy the whole town to do it!!" Starmon screamed, shooting everyone and everything in sight.  
  
"What the hell did I ever do to you?!" I snapped as I jumped to the ground. Lucifer and Bee landed directly behind us.  
  
"Three things. 1) You and your partners lied to me. 2) You're a human. 3).... I HATE HUMANS!!!" Starmon yelled, lashing out at us with his attacks. I managed to block a few with the Crimson while Bee and the others got airborne.  
  
"Why do you hate humans? What has a human ever done to you?" Black demanded as he slammed into Starmon. The mon went flying back, but surprisingly managed to stay on his feet.  
  
"Humans deleted my whole family when they charged through the gate server here in town. I've held a grudge against them for years. And now... now... I can finally take revenge!!" Starmon shouted, launching his attack. Lucifer blocked it with another Shell of Darkness and Black just barely made it out of range with his armor still intact.  
  
"Revenge is going to get you nowhere!!" Bee snapped, sneaking up behind Starmon and knocking him back into another building. "It's only going to cause you more pain and those around you suffering." He flicked his wings clear of dirt as he turned his back on the weakened mon.  
  
My eyes hit about double size as Starmon started getting back to his feet. He had a crazed look in his eyes that told me he was about to do something stupid. Something very stupid.  
  
"If...you won't let me....kill that human... then I'll get my revenge... by killing... YOU!!!" Starmon shouted, grabbing his gun.  
  
"Bee, DUCK!!" Lucifer ordered. It was too late, though, for Bee to move out of the way, but it wasn't to late for me to stop his death. Just as the blast fired, I managed to throw myself in the way of the bullets, taking the full blast to the stomach.  
  
Everyone's eyes, including those of Starmon's, hit triple sized as I fell back into Bee's arms from the force of the blast.  
  
"Nina.... you idiot..." Bee whispered. I smiled weakly up at the idiot birdbrain as blood trickled down my mouth. My arm lay weakly over my newly acquired wounds as he bent down and held me firmly in his arms. His wings wrapped around me as well as they could, holding me tight against him. His eyes stung with tears of rage and sadness.  
  
*Don't kill Starmon over this, bros.... That'll just... start another cycle of pain and rage...* I whispered mentally as I coughed up a little blood. Bee couldn't hold back the tears that started falling.  
  
"You idiot, Nina... Don't you dare die... Don't you DARE!!" Bee whispered, holding me tight. I gave him a weak smile as I felt the world around me go dark and grow cold.  
  
"She... gave her life for you...?" Starmon blinked. Lucifer somehow managed to find his voice.  
  
"Yes... because we love each other... like a family!" Lucifer spat, keeping his eyes turned down to the ground.  
  
"You wanted to get your revenge for the murder of your family, Starmon? Congratulations, that drive has caused you to murder yet another family," Black mockingly congratulated. Starmon's shocked eyes looked down at his blaster. He felt his heart sink into the pit of his shoes. He had been such an idiot. Without a second's hesitation, he snapped his gun in two and tossed the pieces as far away from him as he could get them.  
  
"...Looks like you managed to help someone else in need.... Nina..." Bee whispered.  
  
*But I can't help you when you need me most...* the tears were running down his cheeks in droves by now, and one lucky one hit right on the center of the Crimson Jewel. It glowed for a second, but not bright enough for Bee to notice.  
  
*Your gift...Beelzemon...Heal her with your gift...* Black, Bee, and Lucifer all blinked. The voice that had echoed through their minds sounded strikingly like Chaos Lord's voice.  
  
*Chaos Lord...? How.... What gift?* Bee questioned, sticking the 'how' question on the back burner for now.  
  
*You know what I speak of, Beelzemon... The gift that is locked away within you...The gift to heal the wounds of the injured...* Chaos Lord answered.  
  
*Wrong mon, Chaos Lord...Beelzemons don't have that kind of power...* Bee countered, *But, Lord, if I did...I'd use it right now and save her!*  
  
*You do have that gift locked deep within you, Beelzemon. When you and BlackWarGreymon Spirit Digivolved to my form, I felt it pulsing within you. It seemed very faint at first, but then I realized it was so faint only because you had yet to realize you had it within you,* Chaos Lord explained. Bee blinked.  
  
*...How...do I use it then?* Bee asked. Chaos Lord sighed.  
  
*You must find it within yourself.*  
  
*Dang it, Chaos Lord! Nina doesn't have the time for me to do all that 'searching my soul' bull!* Bee snapped.  
  
*Wait! We could help you, Bee!* Lucifer jumped.  
  
*He's right! We could enter into your mind and help you look for it!* Black jumped. Bee blinked, not sure of what to do.  
  
*It is your choice, Beelzemon,* Chaos Lord stated. Bee took one look at my dying body in front of him, and his mind was made up.  
  
*We'll hunt for it together, then. I don't care if we have to rip my mind apart to find it, but we will find it in time to save her, or help me...!* Bee spat, closing his eyes and holding me close. Lucifer and Black also closed their eyes, concentrating their energies within Bee's mind.  
  
*Found it!*  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Inside Bee's head was a bit of a messy place. There were manuals on how to work on bikes, magazine images of different kinds of motorcycles, and half a dozen other things thrown all over the place. Black and Lucifer nearly fell over at the disorganized mess as they started their hunt. Like in my subconscious, Bee's memories played above them in the 'sky', and his latest memories were being passed up into the 'sky' like the sun rising up in the west.  
  
Bee, minus his wings, was already hard at work looking through the disorganized mess that was his subconscious, trying desperately to find his 'gift'.  
  
*Found it!* Lucifer, Bee, and Black shouted at the same time as they all came upon the same huge white orb. Bee looked at it for a second, and blinked. This defiantly had to be it, because it seriously didn't go with his biker motif.  
  
*Grab the orb, Beelzemon, and bring your gift to the surface! Hurry! Nina's life is all but gone from this world!* Chaos Lord urged.  
  
*We're going to have to have a very long talk about how you're telling me all of this after Nina's back in the land of the living, Chaos Lord.* Bee promised as he reached out to grab the orb. When his hands were about an inch away from the orb, he stopped and turned to the two behind him. *You two better scat back to your own bodies. I don't have a clue what's about to happen.*  
  
*All right...* Black sighed, disappearing.  
  
*Good luck...* Lucifer added as he too disappeared.  
  
*Why do I have a feeling that I'm going to need it...?* Bee muttered. The moment he touched the orb, a white hot light began to snake up his arms. *...That's why!...*  
  
The energy came rushing into him, almost causing him to let go of the orb. He held tight, though, and didn't let go. The energy crackled through him like electricity, and he felt it burning itself into his skin. The orb began to glow white hot, and the hotter it got, the more Bee dug in with his claws. The energy snaked into his head, searing all three of his eyes as it pulsed in through them into his conscious mind. He opened his mouth to try and scream the pain out, but instead of letting out a scream, he let the energy into his very soul. The energy crackled through him, fidgeting its way through every bit of him, including all the way down to the tip of his tail. His back began to budge at the shoulder blades as his wings began to come out, and when they finally ripped through his jacket like they always did, the energy seared itself into them. Bee was finally forced to release the orb by the fact it sent out a huge jolt of energy through his claws. The energy that was still crackling into Bee continued to sear into his flesh as he was tossed back into one of the farther reaches of his subconscious mind. A bright light passed around Bee's body as the energy finished becoming absorbed into him. Bee shook his head to clear it of the lingering pain as he somehow managed to get to his feet.  
  
*That...hurt...* Bee muttered. His wings flapped forward without any mental command, and Bee gasped. His wings had been turned pure white! He looked down at his hands, his legs, and then back at his tail. Everything on him, excluding his skin, hair, and scarf, and been turned white! Pure untainted white!  
  
*What the heck?!* A light chuckle could be heard.  
  
*Good, I see you've absorbed your gift fully. Now, hurry! Use your gift and save Nina!* Chaos Lord's voice ordered. Bee closed his eyes in concentration, and his body began to glow.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
*Come on, Bee! Nina's about gone!* Lucifer warned.  
  
*You can do this, Bee!* Black cheered.  
  
*...Yeah... and that whole orb thing hurt like hell and then some...* Bee muttered as he opened his eyes back in reality. His body began to pulse with a blindingly white light as he quickly filled Lucifer and Black in on what had happened.  
  
"He...he's glowing!" a passerby Digimon whispered. Half the town had seen what I had done to save Bee, and they had hit Starmon upside the head with half a dozen insults already in response.  
  
"Nina... Come back to the living..." Bee ordered, holding me tight against his chest.  
  
*USE IT NOW!!!!* Chaos Lord roared. Bee nodded as he closed his eyes. Holding me tight against his heart, he rose to his feet.  
  
*Keep your head on, yah Digi-God!* Bee snapped back. Chaos Lord blinked.  
  
"Demon Feather's Healing!!!" Bee roared, slamming his wings open. The feathers on Bee's wings began to fly off in different directions, landing on the wounded wherever their injuries were. Three feathers landed on me, it took that many just to cover the wound's full area. The feathers glowed white hot for a moment, then vanished, leaving the wounds as nothing but painful memories. Bee stopped glowing, and just about fell over with me in his arms.  
  
"Beelzemon!!" Black and Lucifer cried out in shock as they ran to catch their falling brother. They got their just in time to steady him on his knees.  
  
"...Was I too late...?" Bee gasped aloud, seeing as I had yet to open my eyes. My eyes were closed tightly against the bright light that was still shinning off Bee a little, and I cracked them open slowly.  
  
"...What's...with the light show...bro?" I asked groggily. Bee smirked down at me in relief. Lucifer released a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding as the tension lessened. That's when he noticed something had changed about Bee.  
  
"Holy... Bee! You're wings! You... You're....!!" Lucifer stuttered, looking hard at Bee.  
  
"...Pure white!..." Black finished, his eyes about to fall out of his helmet. I looked up at Bee, and yah, he was pure white. His skin was still pale blue, but his helmet was now white, as were the bits of him that I could see from my current vantage point. I also noticed something else.  
  
"Your third eye..." I whispered as reached up to touch the now closed part of Bee's pure white helmet. "It's...gone..."  
  
"It is? Well, what do yah know? It is," Bee smirked, allowing me to touch that part of his helmet. "How yah feeling?"  
  
"Like I just died," I replied, trying to get to my feet. Bee chuckled a little.  
  
"You did," I pinned him with a glare that said he had to be kidding.  
  
"We'll...fill you in on the more important details later," Black muttered, noticing the pressing crowd.  
  
"How did you do that?!" "Get them to stay, force them to stay and answer us!" the crowd was turning ugly. I took a look over at Starmon, and he looked at me. He mouthed over something, and I nodded in understanding.  
  
"Let's get the heck out of here!" I laughed, allowing Bee to pick me up again.  
  
*Take off!* Bee laughed as he threw open his wings again. With a strong back-wing, we were off in the air. I held myself close to him as we flew quickly out of the town.  
  
*So...what did Starmon mouth over to you?* Lucifer asked mentally as he came into formation on the left-hand side us.  
  
*Yes, do tell,* Black inquired as he moved in on the right. I smiled.  
  
*Live, and I'm sorry.*  
  
*That's it? I guess it makes sense....* Bee muttered. As we landed in a VERY far away clearing, I hopped out of Bee's arms and turned on him.  
  
"All right, angel boy, what the heck happened while I was quote 'dead'?" I demanded. Bee looked at me and smirked.  
  
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you," Bee smirked. I blinked.  
  
"If it has something to do with my diary and confessions, I want to hear it all!" I smiled.  
  
"Let's get dinner going and then I'll..." Bee really didn't get to finish his sentence as he collapsed from lack of energy, returning to his normal colors and regaining his third eye in the process.  
  
*Fainting on me was not the right answer!!* I mentally screamed at him.  
  
*...Sorry... too tired to get up...* Bee answered. I sighed as I wiggled out from under him.  
  
"Black, give me a hand getting Sleeping Beauty-mon into a more comfortable sleeping spot. Lucifer, sorry to dumb dinner plans all on you, but do yah mind?" I ordered.  
  
"Say no more, Nina. I'll go get dinner. Or maybe I should be saying breakfast because it is still just 7 or 8 in the morning..." I sighed. Lucifer just gave my hair a ruffle before disappearing into the surrounding woods to go get food.  
  
"So, Black... What'd I miss?"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Ah, that's done! Oh, yes, and Corran? In response to your little editor note that you slipped me via e-mail, this is taking the place of the Powerstone one.  
  
Bee: Is there a particular reason you turned me all white?  
  
White shows purity. You can't really fully heal someone body and mind unless you yourself are pure.  
  
Trunks: For a completely random answer, that works pretty well...  
  
*falls over anime style* That's not completely random!!  
  
Trunks: *rolls eyes* Sure it ain't...  
  
Moving on.... Thanks for the reviews! Thanks again to Corran Nackatori who's doing the editing for this story! And, as always....  
  
PLEASE REVIEW!! And I am accepting flames incase someone was wondering. I will not chew you out for a flame. I'm a slightly grown up writer and I should be able to handle criticism with a smile, even if I don't personally like it.  
  
Lena: Shut the curtain before she talks our ears off, Janus!  
  
Janus: Right! *slams curtain closed, ending the chapter* 


	8. Chapter 8

Let's roll!! Remember, this goes in with The Rise and Fall by FlamesheRuby. Now, as I was saying.... And a quick apology for it being so stupid.  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
Crossing Paths Earns its Name  
  
I gave a sigh as I turned back to face Bee, Black, and Lucifer. I gave a huff as I took mental count of how many times we'd had to jump, duck, flip, crouch, and cut our way through a ton of traps just to get some stupid gem that nice controlled Mystmon had asked us to get. The total was up to 200.  
  
Two words about Mystmon; Don't, Ask. He's been taken over by Elrond, and he's being forced to do some cruddy stuff. But, hey, I ain't complainin' too much. When Demon isn't in control of him, he's really a sweat old mon who doesn't have a bad bone in his body.  
  
Well, now back to the present. I gave a sigh as I took a look at the gem in front of us. It was a pretty gem, I'd say somewhere around 1 to 2 million dollars worth if cut just right. It looked like a crown, only on a much smaller scale. It was red, and it was shiny, and it was just what every girl wanted on her birthday. Lucky for me, I'm not that type of girl.  
  
"Hey! Nina! What's the hold up?" Bee questioned, crossing his arms over his chest in a defiant manor. I gave a huff as I looked back at the jewel.  
  
"Mystmon said this thing is supposed to help take out Elrond, right? Well...." Black gave a sigh, interrupting my sentence.  
  
"It's alright, Nina. I'll get it." He was about to get it, but the jewel went off and sent about a million volts of electricity flying at him!! Needless to say, there was a group double take, and Lucifer had just enough time to block the energy with Shell of Darkness.  
  
"...Oh crud..." I gulped, looking at the jewel. The energy around it crackled some before flying off it and landing about two inches away from my face. I took one step back, and gasped as the energy turned solid. There was a group gasp as the energy finally turned a transparent-like solid.  
  
"Athena!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"  
  
"Yo," said ghostly female Beelzemon Digimon waved casually. We all fell over with one leg twitching in the air.  
  
"What the hell?!" I snapped, jumping up to my feet first.  
  
"Sorry about nearly shocking you into oblivion, bro. Sort of haven't really got the hang of being stuck in a crystal yet." There was a group blink.  
  
"No problem..." Black gulped.  
  
"Anyway," Athena sighed, moving back towards the crystal. She picked it up like it was nothing, and it shrunk down to the size of a marble. "Nina, right? Keep careful tabs of this, and don't let anybody have it." I blinked several times as she passed me the crystal.  
  
"...That was surprisingly easy..." I blinked, looking down at the marbleized crystal.  
  
"Oh yeah, and we'll be in touch. Good luck freeing Mystmon!" Athena waved. There was another group blink.  
  
"Yeah, about that..." I muttered. "How do we do it?"  
  
"Not a clue," Athena shrugged. I face vaulted. "But, I suggest you get a move on. Demon took him back over, and is now attempting to destroy your friends. Bye!" before we could really say anything, she had vanished.  
  
"...O....kay.... You three heard the dead Digi-Goddess, let's get a move on!" I laughed, going with the flow. The three exchanged a shrug before heading for the entrance.  
  
When we got outside, there was a strange and dark fog filing the canyon we were in. There was a group blink as a scream was heard off in the distance.  
  
"Is it just me, or did you guys hear that scream as well?" Bee questioned. Black blinked.  
  
"You know, that scream sounded a lot like Rouge..." we gave him a look.  
  
"Could he have been reconfigured?" I questioned, squinting to look through the fog.  
  
"I don't think he could have..." Lucifer blinked.  
  
"Well, whoever it is sounds like they're in trouble. We should hurry." Bee sighed, taking off into the fog bank. The gem started glowing like crazy from within my pocket as another scream echoed through the canyon, louder than the first.  
  
"What's it doing?" Lucifer questioned aloud. I pulled it out, and blinked. Bee turned back around to see what was going on, and blinked as he felt a familiar power start to grow inside of him again.  
  
"...It's...triggering it..." Bee whispered. We all gave him a strange look.  
  
"Huh?" Bee wasn't given time to answer as the gem shot out another blast of energy, aimed right for Bee's heart.  
  
"Bee!!"  
  
*Relax a little, guys... What I was talking about was that it's turning me into the white Beelzemon again.* Bee mentally sighed. There was a group blink.  
  
*You sure you're not mentally insane?* I mentally blinked. Bee smirked as the gem stopped shooting energy into him.  
  
*Pretty sure,* Bee smirked. There was a huge explosion of light, and the fog was cut in half. *Follow the yellow brick road given new meaning.* there was a group shrug.  
  
"You guys heard the mental bird brain. Let's move it!" I ordered, pocketing the gem and making a run through the cut path.  
  
"Hell, why not?" Lucifer joked, shrugging. Both he and Black were airborne and after the now pure white Bee in a matter of moments. The scream echoed again, and I grabbed for my sword as the source of our problems was made painfully clear.  
  
*Okay, Bee, you heal the Beelzemon Mystmon just ran through. Lucifer, Black, get ready for a special delivery.* I mentally ordered.  
  
*What kind of delivery?* Lucifer blinked. I took out my sword, and jumped at the Demon that had Mystmon in his control. Demon hacked a bit, dodging the attack. *Oh, that sort of delivery.*  
  
Mystmon gave a cry of pain, collapsing down onto the ground. I gave a light curse as Demon continued to dodge attack after attack. Of course, my attention was diverted back to the present when somebody yelled,  
  
"Nina!!" at the top of their lungs. I turned around to find a couple of old friends smiling at me with their Digimon partners.  
  
"Yo! How do you guys always manage to get into such deep messes?" I laughed questioningly. Rico gave a little tut, muttering something about how I hadn't changed a bit since the last time I had seen him. The Beelzemon Digimon and what looked like either his girlfriend of his sister, another female Beelzemon, was trying to get him back on his feet.  
  
"Is it just me or is that a white Beelzemon?" Ronfar blinked, looking at Bee, who was currently fighting Demon.  
  
"I...I don't believe it..." Tosh gulped. Demon gave a scream of pain as Black swiped his claw over his face. Lucifer tried to grab him in a holding spell, but missed by 'that' much. Demon gave a curse as he retreated. I just gave a sigh, checking on Mystmon.  
  
"Bee! Get your rear over here quick! Mystmon's hurt bad!" Bee did a double take as he landed next to Mystmon. He took a seat Indian style next to Mystmon, and held his hands a few inches away from Mystmon's injured form. Everything looked like it was going the way it was supposed too, but he stopped mid start.  
  
"Dang... There's a curse on him. I can't even get one healing spell started!" Bee cursed, crossing his arms over his chest in a huff. I gave a light curse in German as my heart sunk down deep into my shoes. This guy had been so nice... He reminded me of what little bit of my real father I remembered.  
  
"Anybody got any good ideas for helping him out?" I demanded. The Beelzemon gave me an odd look as his sister helped him up.  
  
"Are you nuts?! That guy just ran his arm through me!!" his sister whacked him up side the head, and the twins kicked him in the shins, causing him to curse in pain.  
  
"Jerk," Kimber muttered, turning her back to him.  
  
"You're so slow at noticing! It's obvious that he was being controlled!" Rico huffed, imitating his sister.  
  
"If a curse is what the problem is, then we should take him to the witch- doctor." Rico's Wizardmon suggested. I looked over at him, and blinked. He had changed a bit, and for the better. So had Sorceremon, only now she was more like a Witchmon, and that staff of hers looked a lot better than the old one.  
  
"Then let's get a move on! Oh yeah, but first things first." I muttered. The Beelzemon gave me an odd look as I moved directly in front of him and looked him over. "He may be a jerk, but he's still hurt." The Beelzemon blinked several times. Bee gave a shrug.  
  
"Hey, no feathers off my wings." Bee shrugged. He pointed his hand at the still hurt Beelzemon as I stepped back. "Demon Feather's Healing!!" the Beelzemon nearly panicked as a huge beam of white colored energy was shot into him from Bee's hand. There was a group gasp as the Beelzemon started glowing bright white. He gasped as his wounds were fully healed, and another blast of energy shot into him. The beam cut off as abruptly as it had been formed, causing a group blink.  
  
"What the...?" the Beelzemon blinked, looking down at his hands.  
  
"You're welcome,"  
  
"How... what...where?" the group blink.  
  
"Explanations will have to wait. Right now, we need to hurry to Witchmon's place." Black ordered, picking Mystmon up off the ground. There was a group blink, followed by a group shrug.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Okay, to make a long story short, the Witch wasn't exactly happy to have us call her a witch-doctor, but agreed to help us out anyway. So, skipping to the part of the story over dinner.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"....And that brings us up to the present. Any questions?" I asked. There was a cricket chirp in the background before Ronfar raised his hand.  
  
"And Impy went where?" I couldn't help but laugh a little in embarrassment.  
  
"Forgot to mention he Spirit Digivolved to Lucifer, didn't I?" I gulped, laughing embarrassedly. Boy was I glad Lucifer was out getting some more berries, that Bee was already out cold from turning back to normal, and that Black didn't rub it in! There was a group blink before....  
  
"He WHAT?!?!"  
  
*Tell 'em to keep it down, will yah? I'm trying to rest up here...* Bee muttered mentally, rolling over in his sleep.  
  
"Yeah, he Spirit Digivolved to Lucifer, and Bee's asking for us to keep it down a little." I muttered, turning bright red in embarrassment.  
  
"Hey, isn't Spirit Digivolving one of those legendary ways to Digivolve?" Lars, the other Beelzemon, questioned between bites of fish.  
  
"Yep," Lucifer smiled, walking back in with an armful of berries. "I brought extra incase anybody else wanted some." There was another cricket chirp.  
  
"So, anyway.... What have you guys been up to?" everyone gave me an odd look. The female Beelzemon, E-Vie, gave me a questioning look.  
  
"How do you know Bee asked for us to keep it down?" E-Vie finally asked.  
  
"Mental link," Lucifer, Black, and I answered at the same time. E-Vie blinked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Long story," E-Vie blinked again.  
  
"O...kay...."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Iniora: And I'm sort of out of it right now. Chapter ends here because I'm so out of it I can't type straight. See yah next chapter. 


	9. Chapter 9

NOTE!!!!!!! This is picking up DIRECTLY with Tyrant's!!!  
  
Tyrant: Oh...I did not know that and I humbly apologies for not taking into account other people's religion before typing out that note to you.  
  
Bee: Enough already! Let's get this thing going!!!  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
The Lord of Chaos  
  
"...I'm in the land of...WHAT?!?!?!" That was about all I could spit out at the moment. My mind was a complete whirr of confusion that was doubled with the fact I was looking at a guy that looked almost exactly like Chaos Lord, only with icy blue eyes instead of amber ones, and he had even said he was Chaos Lord! He slowly bent down to my height and placed his hand on my forehead.  
  
"Lessen to the words I say not with your ears, but with your heart." The way he said that, the way he pushed those words into my mind as if he were using the mental link me and my bros had, forced me to close my eyes again and lessen to him. "You are in the land of the Forgotten Kings. I brought you here the moment I felt you slip from your brother's grasp. There are things at work here that you cannot comprehend just yet, but they shall become clear in time. For now, you must let your brothers know that you are safe, and that they must keep fighting; that they mustn't lose hope." Chaos Lord pulled his hand off my forehead, allowing me to bolt right up as if I had been in a spell and slap him across the face.  
  
"You EVER go into my mind again without my permission, and be you ten thousand times more powerful than me or not, I WILL knock you down so hard that the dirt won't even recognize you, yah got that?!!?" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Chaos Lord chuckled for a moment, before breaking out into near roaring laughter.  
  
"Indeed, you are Athena's incarnate! Only she would have even so much as fathomed saying, or even meaning, such a thing!" Chaos Lord laughed. After a few minutes of laughing, he managed to calm down again. "Oh, now, Little Athena, you have a task to do! It would be best if you get to it right now."  
  
*Yo! Bros! Do you mind NOT sulking some??* a moment later...  
  
*NINA?!?!?!?!*  
  
*No duh, Sherlocks!*  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Obviously, when all three of the sulking brothers snapped their heads up from their different sulking positions, everyone knew they had all heard something they hadn't. Bee was the first to jump to his feet and all but verbally scream an explanation for where in the world I was.  
  
"Told yah she's alive," Wick commented. When Bee suddenly shouted,  
  
"You're where?!" the group started asking questions. Being the eldest, Black took charge of the situation.  
  
"Bee, calm down. Everyone, we'll tell you what's going on in a moment. Now, Nina, as you were saying?" Black's eyes, as did Bee's and, if one could have seen, Lucifer's eyes all zoned out, making them look as if they were there, but nobody was home.  
  
*Okay, fast rundown. I'm lookin' at a Chaos Lord with blue eyes that decided to calm me down by going in my head with some kind of spell. I already slapped him up side the head for that one, so too bad so sad, Bee.* Bee let out a little joking tut at that, but otherwise remained silent as I continued on. *Yeah, well, like I already said, I'm in the land of the Forgotten Kings. Oh yeah, and bros?*  
  
*We're all ears, Nina.* Lucifer smiled back at me mentally. I took a deep mental breath before screaming into their minds at the top of my mental lungs, which was very loud, mind you,  
  
*STOP SULKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* Bee jumped, grabbing his ears as if to stop them from ringing, with Lucifer doing the same and Black merely wincing. To those watching this, it seemed almost as if for some reason they had all been bit by a bug at the same time.  
  
"What's with you three?" Lars coughed, having just woken slightly up with their shouting. He was sitting against a wall with both E-Vie and Kimber sitting right next to him, trying to make sure he didn't do something stupid or strange or anything like that.  
  
"Nina just blaster out our hearing, that's what..." Lucifer muttered, tapping his ear just to make sure he could still hear.  
  
*Okay, that's all from King-land. I'll stay in touch, though, so nobody go sulking. Yah got that?!* I nearly shouted again.  
  
*Yeah, little sis, yeah yeah yeah, we got it!!* Bee snapped almost sleepily up at me. I gave them all a mental picture of me flashing them the victory sign before spinning around and temporarily cutting the link.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Now that that was all over, I was following Chaos Lord down a glowing white hallway, passing different King-type Digimon on our way somewhere.  
  
"So..." I started to ask, hoping to strike up a conversation, "Where're we going?"  
  
"The Sacred Sanctuary," Chaos Lord stated bluntly. A crack of lightning echoed above our heads, making me blink.  
  
"Chaos Lord!! You may be rule of this land, but I shall not tolerate you taking a HUMAN to the Sanctuary!" Well, there was a voice I knew, but I face I think only a mother could love. About twenty feet ahead of us was a giant blue eagle standing up on two legs with, instead of wings, hands, and in these hands he had a whip of electricity. Chaos Lord sighed, motioning for me to come forward next to him. Like an obedient dog, I came.  
  
"Bolt, as you know, Nina is..."  
  
"I care not!!" Bolt shouted at the top of his lungs, echoing it with a crack of lightning. "She is still a human, and as you know, humans are weak, foolish, and above all else, worthless!!!"  
  
"Hey! I resent that!" I shouted back.  
  
"I still say it so! Less course you change my mind through combat." The beaked smirk Bolt had made me cringe.  
  
"Bolt, I'd rather you not be destroyed." Chaos Lord sighed.  
  
"Her, delete me? HA! She's so weak, I'm surprised her brothers haven't died protecting her already!" that's it!  
  
"Alright, bird head, now I'm ticked." I growled low, drawing the Crimson from it's sheath. Chaos Lord sighed as a large number of King-type Digimon began to surround the large hall we were in, forming a large spectator arena.  
  
"Fine then, go ahead, but I shall not be the one to pick up your remaining data bits, Bolt."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"So...??" Rico pushed. The three gave a sigh before Black began explain.  
  
"Nina says that she's safe in the Land of the Forgotten Kings with a Digimon that looks exactly like Chaos Lord, only with blue instead of amber eyes." Black stated.  
  
"That's it?!"  
  
"Yep," Lucifer stated bluntly.  
  
"Great! So she gets to go have a ball with the original while we're stuck with the reincarnated version. Is it just me, or does that not seem fair in the least??" Lars wined. Bee and Black, needless to say, sat up at that, with Lucifer's eyes widening behind his helmet in shock.  
  
"What did you just say, Lars?" Lucifer questioned calmly.  
  
"That we're stuck with the reincarnated version and it ain't fair." Lars huffed again.  
  
"...Lars, the fact Bee and I are the reincarnated Chaos Lord is the one secret we never told anyone here..." Black stated, shocked. Lars looked back at him, double shocked at that. Bee walked somewhat calmly over to Lars, grabbed him by the collar, and against much protesting from Kimber and E-Vie, lifted him up against the wall.  
  
"Okay, kid, how the hell did you know that?!" Bee demanded.  
  
"Get off!" Lars ordered, slashing through Bee's wrist with his claws in order to get him off. Bee dropped him on the ground, gritting his fangs in anger and grabbing at his wrist. When he pulled back his hand enough to look at the cut, he fought back a gasp.  
  
*...Guys...I think there's more to Rouge's kid than either he knows or he's letting on....* Bee mentally whispered.  
  
"Bee?" Lucifer asked, walking up next to Bee in order to demand to see his wrist.  
  
"...I'm fine, Lucifer...Kid's too weak tah have even cut me." Bee lied, showing Lucifer his wrist while at the same time flashing it back to Black. Lucifer was glad that he had his helmet to stop his eyes from being shown as wide as plats, and Black's only reaction was to regain control of his emotions as fast as he could, which took six seconds.  
  
*I agree. We'll watch it for a while, see if anything else happens.* Black ordered. Bee nodded in agreement, as did Lucifer. The reason why the both of them were gasping was because where Lars's claws had hit there was no wound, no slash marks, no anything. Instead of where there should have been a wound, there was now white fabric and, what Bee had seen when he looked down at it, a soft white glow. The glow had disappeared a few seconds after Bee had exposed what was supposed to be a wound to the air, to which he was grateful for. Try explaining a glowing wound that wasn't poison.  
  
"You jerk! You could have deleted him by doing that!" E-Vie jumped, all but punching Bee in the face. Lucifer stopped her by grabbing her mid punch by the wrist.  
  
"True, Bee could have. He let his emotions get the better of his judgment, and that was almost the price. The next time he does something like that, I'll be the one to whack him." Lucifer stated calmly. E-Vie glared at him, before yanking her wrist free of Lucifer's grip.  
  
"...Darn reincarnated Digi-Lords...Think they rule the world..." E-Vie huffed, turning back to help wrap Lars's wounds. Lucifer sighed, knocking down her knowing who they were simply to the fact she had gotten the brains of the family.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
With a satisfied smirk, I sheathed the Crimson and patted my hands clean of dust. I didn't have a scratch on me. Bolt, however, was not going to be waking up any time soon. The King-types had dispersed quickly, with some of the kinder beast-type Kings taking pity on the defeated bird and carrying him down to the medical center. At least I figured that was their destination sense whatever was left of him was definitely going to need medical assistance.  
  
"Well, that was easy." I sighed, looking back at Chaos Lord. I could have sworn I saw him smirking, but he was hiding his emotions far to well for me to tell. A soft rhythm of clapping from behind me made me whirl around towards a large oak door. A flash of sliver caught my eye as a figure, the one that was clapping, walked forward from the side edges of the door.  
  
"Well done, young one. I don't think I've seen Bolt ever be beaten back by someone so young and small." The figure applauded. When he stepped into the light and finally stopped applauding, I was awestruck.  
  
Okay, here's the rundown. He was tall, about Chaos Lord's height, wearing a fine white tank top and beautiful white pants that were held up by a silver belt. He had long silver hair that matched the belt nicely, and his eyes. Oh, they were cute! Amber and almost cat like eyes matching his creamy completion like a glove. But, above all else, I had the strangest sense of de-sha-vu around the guy.  
  
"Nina, this is the Guardian Deva of the Sanctuary, Zedomon. Zedomon, as you know, this is Athena's reincarnate, Nina." Chaos Lord introduced.  
  
"A pleasure. I trust you have her crystal with you then?" Zedomon questioned. I blinked, fishing it out of my pocket.  
  
"Yeah, it's around here somewhere..." I muttered.  
  
"That's alright, I'll..."  
  
"Found it!" the crystal glowed slightly, making me blink. Zedomon literally pushed it back into my pocket for me.  
  
"Thank you, but as I was about to say, I didn't need to see it." Zedomon stated politely, though with an edge of annoyance in his voice.  
  
"Come now, I'm sure the Flame Lord and Wendiene are waiting for us inside." Chaos Lord Smiled. I smirked, before the first name clicked.  
  
"The Flame Lord?!!?"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Iniora: Cliffy! Now, I'm finally back up in the running!!!! YEAH!!! No more Writer's Block!  
  
(Review Please) 


	10. Edited Chapter 10

Blink blink.... Well what do yah know...? Tyrant's covering for my mistake...  
  
I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!!!! I didn't have to take this down after all! I am a serious...  
  
Bee: *whacks me us side the head* Baka~!  
  
*swirl eye thing* Uh...yeah... *shakes head quickly and is back to normal* Now here's the chapter... AGAIN!! This time, edited.  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
Ancient and Nina... What's the Connection?  
  
"Boring!" I sighed, plopping down on a wooden bench near the outskirts of the misted forest. Chaos Lord laughed lightly at my antics, leaning against the back of the bench and showing his more Bee-ish side.  
  
"Perhaps you'd rather see the Flame Lord and gather information? That would be far less 'boring' than simply having me accompany you." Chaos Lord suggested. I looked up at him, at the smirk dancing in his eyes, and stuck my tong out at him.  
  
"Nah!" He let out a laugh at that, closing his eyes in a half smile and turning to face the opposite direction as me. My heart suddenly skipped a beat, and I could have sworn I heard somebody whispering my name, as in my real name, in my ear. I thought I saw past the wooden entrance of the mist-covered forest, straight back to a rather tall looking man with his hands resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword, looking straight back at me and whispering my name. Chaos Lord's hand on my shoulder suddenly pulled me out of it.  
  
"Nina? What's wrong?" Chaos Lord demanded. I closed my eyes and shook my head slightly to clear the sudden feeling from my mind.  
  
"You ever have one of those feelings like you're being watched? And for a split second, no matter how far away the watcher is, you manage to catch a glimpse of him?" I questioned softly. Chaos Lord nodded in understanding. "...I think somebody in those woods is trying to get my attention..."  
  
"That's the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard." Well look who's back! Bolt!  
  
"Hey, blue boy, up and atom so soon?" I smirked, not even blinking about the fact he looked like a human now. A sudden red hand at my throat made me gasp and grab at the hand. In two shakes of a lamb's tail, I had the hand's owner over my shoulder and in a tight neck lock with Chaos Lord.  
  
"Firenze! I realize you would like to vent some of your anger for your defeat on Athena's incarnate, but need I remind you who she is?!" Chaos Lord boomed. The now revived Firenze growled, falling limb in Chaos Lord's grip.  
  
"Chaos Lord... She and her brethren nearly killed me!" Firenze countered, drawing his sword and pointing it at me the moment he was loose. I would have countered, if not for that weird feeling screaming back through my mind, this time looking as if the person was trying to feel out something. I shut my mind of completely, even to the others who were sill outside the Sacred Sanctuary, and nearly fainted. I halfway thought they were going to throw an insult at me, but instead, everyone gathered looked back towards the Ancient Woods.  
  
"...Impossible..." Bolt muttered.  
  
"A...summoning spell...?" Chaos Lord whispered.  
  
"...Who is calling to whom...or what?" Firenze whispered, shocked for some reason. I took a deep breath, and turned towards the forest.  
  
"Good question. Want ah come find out?" I smirked, daredevil style.  
  
"Fool! No being has ever returned from that wood!" Bolt snapped, his whip striking the ground in show of his anger.  
  
"Eh." I shrugged him off, walking towards the woods anyway. Chaos Lord let out a sigh, before following behind me.  
  
"C-Chaos Lord?! You can't be serious!!" Chaos Lord turned back to face Bolt, and shrugged,  
  
"I am," before turning back to follow me towards the woods.  
  
"...Well I, for one...am not about to be outdone by that human witch!! Athena's reincarnate or not!!" Firenze growled, sheathing his sword and stomping after us. Bolt sort of blinked, before cursing and advancing towards us.  
  
"...In the name of all things Holy... I'm supposed to stop the intruders, and instead I'm keeping two insane idiots alive!!!" I kinda smirked when I heard that.  
  
"This brings back memories," I teased.  
  
"Yes, only they're not used to taking orders." Chaos Lord countered, his hand at the ready to draw his sword.  
  
"Like you are?" I countered, steeping over a large root. I nearly fell flat on my face as that feeling washed over me with ten times the normal force.  
  
"Nina!" Chaos Lord quickly steadied me in his grip.  
  
"So the spell's targeting her?" Firenze muttered, looking around the forest in a glare. Bolt cracked his whip against the ground again, glaring directly in front.  
  
"Alright, whoever or whatever you are! Revile yourself now and fight like a mon!"  
  
*Fight like... a mon...?* I tensed as the voice started forcing itself into our minds. A verbal laugh echoed through out the woods, making the sleeping bats disperse through the air. *I am no...mon... You, however, are a fool to trespass...here?!*  
  
"Shut the hell up!!" I snapped, unsheathing the Crimson and pointing it towards where I felt the strongest pull, coincidently stopping him mid sentence. "Why the hell are you trying to invade my mind?!"  
  
*Invade your...?* the voice let out another laugh, this time more jubilant. *Jennifer! Ah, how you've grown!* Before I could even blink, I was being pulled up by a root towards a rather thick patch of vines that served as a kind of house. A tall man, about Chaos Lord's height, with long silver grey hair, burning brown eyes, soft facial features, fangs, a tail, and small claws dressed like that knight dude in 'Escaflona the Move', grabbed me in a hug the minute I reached his height. Chaos Lord quickly punched him out.  
  
"Gah!! I have just been violated!!" I gasped, sheathing the Crimson and brushing myself off. "Yuck, nasty! I think he might ah tried to kiss me!!!" Chaos Lord let out a low growl to that one, with Firenze and Bolt rising up behind him on pillars of either fire or electricity. The man that had hugged me seemed hurt, and before anyone could blink, he had turned into a rather large wolf that, standing on all fours, reached my waist. Everyone but me let out a gasp.  
  
*I would N-E-V-E-R violate my own descendant, Jennifer!!!* the wolf snapped, breaking down my mental defenses as if he were simply snapping a twig. *Chaos Lord, catch her and lay her gently here.* A vine-made bed suddenly showed up, and right before I could pass out into my subconscious due to the force of the mental blow, Chaos Lord had caught me in his arms.  
  
"...The Guard of the Woods... Ancient...?!"  
  
*No duh,*  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
All three paused mid movement, stiffening as if to prepare for some kind of an attack.  
  
"...Huh...?" Rico blinked, the first to notice that Bee, Black, and Lucifer had suddenly stopped. Wizardmon looked back at them, a soft glow in his eyes.  
  
"What's wrong? What's happened?" He demanded.  
  
"...Nina...cut herself off..." Lucifer muttered, looking down at the ground. "...Something was...attacking her mind...so she cut herself off from everything..."  
  
"...She's near the Shrieking Shack, but that's all we know..." Black sighed.  
  
*We can't get there with Lars still being hurt,* Lucifer stated to the three that could hear him mentally.  
  
*Yes... Bee, is there any chance...?* Black stopped mid thought when Bee showed him the still white mark now pulsating on his wrist.  
  
*Yea,*  
  
"Okay, move it." Bee growled, marching up to Lars who had yet again needed to rest against the rock face. Kimber and E-Vie had instantly blocked his path.  
  
"What for? So you can kill me again?" Lars growled, panting slightly.  
  
"Do yah mind?" Bee questioned, a dark edge in his tone.  
  
"Yeah, I do!" E-Vie growled. Bee let out a sigh, before reviling the glowing white claw mark on his wrist. The human and Digimon exchanged a blink.  
  
"Now, before I go full out white blast mode, do yah mind moving?!" Bee snapped. The two parted like the Red Sea. Bee bent down on one knee next to Lars, making the later growl in worry and pain. "Shut it,"  
  
"Make me," Lars growled. Bee put his hand directly in front of his third eye, closed his own eyes, and smirked.  
  
"Kay,"  
  
Lars had just enough time to blink before gasping out in shock at something only he and a certain wizard duo could see. Bee's smirk had turned into a grimace as he pushed all his hidden energy to the front, forcing himself to switch to his pure white blast mode. His eyes snapped open and he exploded in light when his pure white wings finally managed to break themselves loose. Lars was also lost in the light, glowing with half the strength of the light still echoing off Bee as his wound was shut tight.  
  
*Now that everyone is thoroughly shocked...* Black sighed.  
  
Bee stood up once the glow had ended and he was back to being pure white, offering Lars a hand up as well.  
  
"Okay, what the hell did we just miss!?"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
At that moment in my subconscious mind, I was in the middle of a fight with a giant white/silver wolf!!  
  
*How the hell did you get in here?!* I demanded, blocking yet another counter blow.  
  
*The same way your brothers can!* the wolf snapped back. He had retreated back a few feet after his failed attempt at trying to corner me.  
  
*Great! That didn't answer the question!!* I screamed, charging in. Before I knew what was happening, the wolf was back to being a guy and had me pinned down against the ground, disarmed and defenseless. His eyes glowed a demonic silver color, he shoved his hand against my face, and yelled,  
  
*Awaken!!* at the top of his mental lungs. A bright orb of silver suddenly shot out of his hand, making me wince. All the doors to all the people I knew and loved, including the Chaos Lord that happened to be looking down at my physical body, snapped open. Being used to the mental link, I shut them enough so that they could only hear what I wanted them to hear, and nothing else. Another door, this one leading to what I would assume would be the wolf's mind, snapped open wide at both ends, letting me feel his emotions as if they were my own. Top on his list; worry that I'd lost my mind and that he might have gone a pinch overboard. I instantly shut that door so that I couldn't feel his emotions, but found that it couldn't be shut all the way.  
  
*...Alright...bakayero...Who the hell are you?!?!* I snapped. The wolf guy blinked, standing up off me and offering me a hand up.  
  
*My name is Ancient, and I... I am your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.* My jaws just sort of hung loose there for a moment as all the greats started clicking in my mind.  
  
*...You're dead?!?!*  
  
*A spirit never dies,* Ancient countered, returning back to looking like a wolf. *...Jennifer... You are most certainly my decedent... Those battle skills were as sharp as my own when I was your age; in other words, you stunk.*  
  
*Hey!!* I jumped, glaring at my spirit ancestor.  
  
*It's only the truth, so get over it. Now, wake up and put Chaos Lord at ease some.*  
  
My eyes instantly snapped open, and I glared at the chuckling wolf.  
  
"I'm gonna kill you for that insult!!!" I snapped, grabbing the wolf by the throat. He simply tossed me off him, smirking as I tried rather hilariously to skin his furry hide.  
  
"...What the...?" Firenze blinked, exchanging a look between Bolt and Chaos Lord. I finally managed to get Ancient in my grip, and had him down on his back in a tickle tackle. Unable to do anything but laugh, he squirmed and let out a howling laugh.  
  
*Gah! Alright, I take it back!!* Ancient roared. I stood up again, brushed myself off, and turned to face the shocked trio behind me.  
  
*He says he's my great times ten gramps.* I explained mentally to Chaos Lord. He sort of blinked, before smirking slightly as everything made since.  
  
"Lord Ancient, it is a pleasure to meet you." Chaos Lord bowed.  
  
*Likewise.* Ancient smiled, a slight doggy smile parting his lips. *Now, perhaps you'd like to tell me about what's going on and why Jennifer's changed her name to Nina? I've been guarding this forest for one too many centuries now to know the answer to my own questions...*  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Five hours later, our rather tiny group of five exited the forest, just in time to see Sacred Sanctuary under attack from a bunch of Megas and a witch.  
  
"Whoa! Who called out the fireworks?!" I jumped, using the Crimson as a baseball bat to send one Mega flying off a wounded King-type.  
  
*...Him....* Ancient growled, the fur on his back bristling in anger, *The one you call Elrond is behind this... His scent of darkness permeates even the enemy's flesh...* One Mega was deleted with a rather large chunk of his arm missing. Anger flashed across my mind, memories that were bad to have right there and then pushing forward for an instant.  
  
"You know, brat, this is all your fault!!" Bolt snapped, standing back to back with me.  
  
"Oh yeah?!"  
  
"Yes!! If you and your friends hadn't pushed to gain entry into here, our defenses would not have failed us!!"  
  
Okay, that was officially it. I, was, ticked.  
  
"Bolt, take that fire head and start rounding up survivors and send 'em to Ancient's place! Chaos Lord, you're with me. Ancient, if you'd please give blue boy and the hot head some cover." I barked off a battle strategy which was, surprisingly, instantly followed.  
  
"Why should we listen to you?" Bolt growled.  
  
"Because right now I'm ticked. Excuse...me?!" I stopped mid step as somebody somewhere on the mental link let out a pain-filled grimace brimming with the feeling of the inability to do anything for someone who was his friend. Ancient blinked, looking back at me and nudging me slightly.  
  
*Nina?* he questioned softly. I stood like a rock, my eyes wide in shock as the door to my three brothers snapped open wide and I saw a good friend being killed by his own son. There was something else there that they couldn't see, either that or they didn't want to see. Darkness pulsating off the boy in a rather familiar pattern, forcing his movements like a puppet on strings.  
  
"...Lord..." I whispered, the tears falling slightly. I had a rather good idea who had done that to him, who had made him go insane, and my sadness was quickly replaced by a boiling rage. My fists clenched tight in anger around the Crimson, and I growled, "...He...is so...dead..."  
  
*Yeow! If you wanted my help, you just had to ask!!* Athena's voice suddenly snapped through my mind. I would have laughed as the chibby Athena raced through my mind, trying to avoid the strings of crimson red energy I had unknowingly used to call her from her gem prison.  
  
Ancient instantly jumped when he saw Athena running through my mind.  
  
*Get back!! Don't go near her!!* Ancient barked, backing off quickly.  
  
"Nina?" Chaos Lord blinked, looking at me wide eyed.  
  
My eyes started glowing in a crimson hue, and several tiny orbs of energy suddenly surrounded me. Both hands were tight on the Crimson's hilt, the sword angled slightly to the left while still being held directly in front of me. A crimson glow surrounded both me and the sword, and I started floating with the little multi-colored orbs following me up towards the sky. A couple of idiot Megas charged at me, and the orbs struck out at them.  
  
Blood spattered against the ground, and Ancient buried his head under his paw so that he wouldn't have to look at their mutilated corpuses.  
  
*...Oh Great Devine, do take pity on their foolish souls...*  
  
"...Nina..." Chaos Lord whispered at first, the shouted out, "NINA!!!"  
  
I couldn't hear him. I wouldn't hear him. I was ticked, and I do mean t-i- c-k-e-d. One of the Megas that had attacked me was spared for a moment or two, and brought directly in front of my glowing face.  
  
"Who sent you here?" My voice was definitely not mine. It was covered in darkness, rage, and anger as memories from the past boiled up in quick succession, clouding me to all things but one; revenge for a friend. The Mega gulped, pointing out a rather odd looking Witchmon with a silver crescent moon buckle on her hat. The Mega was spared.  
  
"Crescent!! You... Are... MINE!!!"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Iniora: I've got a great start for Next Chapter in my head, and now all I've got to do is write it and not be a Baka!  
  
Bee: Just leave her a review, please... 


	11. Chapter 11

Okay, here's chapter 11.  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
Bloodshed and Rebirth  
  
Said demonic Black Waltz looked over at me, and smirked.  
  
"So you're going to try and do that, hum?" she snickered, her lips twisting into an interesting smirk. The silver ball of energy glowed bright, emitting a soft pulse that sounded like the triangle instrument being hit once, in answer. "Well then, come at me."  
  
I didn't hesitate to accommodate her.  
  
"No!! Nina!!!"  
  
*After her! We can't let the witch's plan to separate her work!!"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Bee, still all white, was in the process of cursing himself out at not being able to help in any way, form, or manner. Black stared off into space, almost completely emotionless. Lucifer let out a sigh, having nothing better to do in show of his emotions. Lars's fists were gripping tight to the earth, his breathing labored by his wounds and his anger at himself for doing what he had done fuming through him. Rico tried to calm him, to give him some kind of comfort in the fact that what he had done was not done by his own will. Bee finally stood up from where he was leaning against, walked calmly over to Lars, and shoved his hand in his face in show that he wanted to help him up.  
  
"...Just kill me..." Lars whispered, his voice about to crack with the still unspent tears. "...I...I deserve to die...for what I...just did..." Bee's once placid stair turned cold, and before anyone could blink, he shouted,  
  
"You dam idiot!!" and slapped him clear across the field into a tree.  
  
*Bee! What the hell's gotten into you?! You could have killed him doing that!!* Lucifer snapped mentally.  
  
"This is between Beelzemons, so stay out!" Bee growled aloud, stomping forward after Lars. The whole group stared wide-eyed at him.  
  
"Lars..!" Black extended his hand, stopping Rico from advancing any further.  
  
"No. Beelzemon is right. This is one lesson Lars can only learn from another of his kind. We must stay out of it." Black explained, a slight twinkle in his eye. Rico just stared wide eyed, while the new girl and her Daemon, Heather and Dae, gulped.  
  
*...Black... I...I don't like this...* Lucifer whispered to Black mentally. Bee was still advancing on the cowering Lars slowly, almost in a move to intimidate him.  
  
*...I know...and I dislike it as well... Just incase we must, get ready to cast a Shell of Darkness.*  
  
*Did you both just forget what I said!? I said stay out!!!* Bee snapped at the both of them. Lucifer and Black exchanged a look, before letting out a sigh of understanding. Lucifer, however, ignored him completely and began to gather the energy necessary for him to cast the Darkness Shell.  
  
Bee had finally reached his target, and now had Lars pinned against the tree by his jacket collar. His three eyes glowed pure white for a moment, before he healed Lars of his wounds and tossed him back into the dirt.  
  
"...Why...?" Lars whispered, hacking slightly as he recovered from the hit.  
  
"...Get up..." Lars simply stared cold, hard bullets into the ground, fighting back the urge to vomit. "I said get up!!" Bee kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying a good inch off the ground. He then grabbed him again by his jacket collar and slammed him back into the tree he had hit him with earlier.  
  
"...Why...?" Lars whispered again, unable to move, to even defend himself. His heart was shattered into a thousand pieces, the words murdered and killer, father-hater and other such names echoing through his shattered mind. Normally, his will would have put him in to check, but that too was shattered like an expensive glass vase falling against a stone mantelpiece.  
  
"'Cause you've already forgotten him, haven't yah!? You've already forgotten what his final wish was!" Lars just looked at him, dumbfounded by all this. It was as if Bee was seeing right through his eyes and straight into his soul; it almost looked as if he was counting how many pieces it had shattered to, and guessing how long he'd have to keep this up until Lars was back to normal.  
  
"Put...him...down!! I don't...want to have...to shoot!!" E-Vie suddenly cried out, her eyes tear-stained. Bee snapped over to look at her, and one look told him all. Alara was dead, and she was the forced murderer.  
  
"I'll chat with you in a second." Bee growled, turning back to face the broken Lars, "For now, I got ah overdue appointment with Mr. Forgetful here."  
  
"I said put him down!!" She shut her eyes tight, and fired. Everything happened in quick succession from then on, stopping only a few seconds after she had let the bullet fly. Lucifer was lost in a blast of black light as his spell rebounded on him, dragging him through dimensions. Black, upon seeing Lucifer was missing, had blocked the bullet with his claw guards, ditched the guards, and had E-Vie up against a tree with the bulk of his arm against her throat, making Kimber and the others who had just returned jump in fear.  
  
"I realize this is hard for you to do," Black growled, his eyes flashing a dangerous white color as he seemed to pick up on her emotions, "But stay out of this matter for now. Please." The way he said that, with the ice echoing off his every word, made E-Vie gulp and the other girls back down.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
I let out a moan as my head pounded with pain. I didn't have a clue what had happened around me, to me, or why I felt like I had a sword running through my thigh. Pushing myself up, I found I couldn't move any higher than a few inches without pain shooting through my body. I looked back at my left thigh, and fought back a disgusted scream.  
  
I had a black energy sword jabbed straight through my leg!! With a bit of white bone sticking out my kneecap tah boot!!  
  
*...Okay... Chaos Lord... Ancient... WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU TWO?!?!?!* My mental shout was answered by two groans and a verbal shout from a rather familiar voice.  
  
"Nina!" Lucifer's voice shouted out around me. I fought back a scream as a black energy hand ripped out the sword and discarded it, and a regular hand was placed against my thigh. "This'll hurt." With that warning, he started to reset my broken bones.  
  
"YEOWW!!!!!~!" My scream woke Chaos Lord and Ancient up with a start. Ancient, who was in his human spirit form, did a double take as he saw the cause for my shout.  
  
*Lucifer I assume?* Ancient smirked. Lucifer blinked behind his helmet, looking over at the spirit with a blank expression.  
  
*...Who're...you?* Lucifer demanded over the mental link. Chaos Lord let out a rather nasty sounding hack as he too rose from the dirt. Looking around him, then down at the blood trail my leg was creating, he let out a curse.  
  
"Dam that Crescent! We're miles from the Sacred Sanctuary!" Chaos Lord cursed. Then he caught sight of Lucifer, and blinked. "Lucifer? What...How did you get here?"  
  
"Chaos Lord...?" He did a minor double take as he realized this Chaos Lord had blue eyes instead of green. "...The...real...Chaos Lord...?"  
  
"That I am," Chaos Lord smiled, standing up slightly before falling back in the dirt. He shook his head to clear it of the lingering pain, and tried to stand back up again. Lucifer helped him at least sit up with a Darkness Shell. "...Thank you..."  
  
"Yeow...Ow...Ouch..." That was my basic vocabulary as I rolled over so that I was sitting up. My hand hit a rock. "Yip!!"  
  
*Hold still, the both of you.* Ancient sighed, pulling out an ocarina. He played a simple tune on it that left two glowing orbs hanging in the air. They both flashed in a silvery color, before pulling a pure white Bee move and giving both me and Chaos Lord a healing treatment. I did a slight double take.  
  
"Huh...? Neat trick, gramps." I smirked, standing up. Lucifer did a slight double take.  
  
"Gramps?" Ancient let out a huff, returning to his wolf form before explaining.  
  
*Yes, gramps. Nina is my descendent from about... Oh, I'd say seven thousand years ago at the very least. It's a rather long, complicated story.* Ancient smiled slightly. Lucifer was about to say something when an arrow of energy found itself shooting towards us that he had to duck. The second energy arrow managed to take the Crimson Jewel off my neck.  
  
"Whoa! Too close for comfort!!" I gulped, rubbing the minor burn mark on my neck. A dark laugh filled the cliff-like arena we were at, and slowly, a rather odd looking knight slipped through the very earth, grabbing the jewel and pocketing it as it rose.  
  
"Welcome, oh Demon Lass! What's wrong? Afraid to face me alone?" He looked like a horse, standing on horse hooves, with a horse head, but the majority of his body was human. His armor was thick enough to make Black's armor look like a little toddler's toy, and his sword looked like something out of Kingdom Hearts. I let out a light growl, somehow knowing he was talking to me. Ancient steeped between us.  
  
*Who would be so rash as to face my decedents without aid?* Ancient growled, his tail whipping in anger.  
  
"I am Stigmamon, one of the greatest warriors in Master Elrond's invincible army!" the centaur-like guy smirked, withdrawing his sword. "Allow me to demonstrate by giving you a slow and painful death...Lucifer!!"  
  
Lucifer couldn't even move, his speed was unmatched. The sword went right through his heart, stuck there, and refused to dislodge itself until Stigmamon had tossed him over the edge of the cliff.  
  
"Lucifer!!"  
  
"BRO!!" I gasped, my anger yet again getting the better of me. Ancient let out a growl, debating some private question, before moving into action.  
  
*Hold tight, my decedents... I shall aid Lucifer while you deal with this fool. And whatever you do, do NOT resort to 'that' technique!!* I had a rough idea what he was talking about.  
  
About a thousand feet below sea level and the battle field above, Lucifer let out a soft moan within his mind as his body began to fade away.  
  
*...I wonder...if this is...what he meant by a slow...and painful death...* Lucifer questioned himself, his hand limply holding his now severed heart.  
  
*Lucifer!!* Ancient roared. Like a streak of blue lightning, Ancient's spirit dove down into Lucifer's dying body, stabilizing him for the moment. Within Lucifer's mind, a bright flash signaled the fact that the two were going to talk weather Lucifer liked it or not.  
  
Lucifer blinked as he found himself not in his subconscious as he would have suspected, but in a pure white room with nothing around him save Ancient's glowing form.  
  
*Ancient? What...What is this place?*  
  
*This is the Hall of Lost Spirits, Lucifer. You're dead.* Ancient sighed.  
  
*...Oh...Well, Nina's just gonna love this...* Lucifer joked.  
  
*Now is not the time for jokes, Lucifer! Time for you is running thin!* Ancient boomed, *There is a way to revive you, but you must open your mind to me. You must allow my light to seep deep down into even your most treasured thoughts, into the darkest most shadowed regions of your mind. Wherever my light travels you must open without fear or delay no matter how hard or painful a task it appears to be.* Lucifer blinked behind his face mask, somehow knowing that if he did that, he'd never be the same.  
  
*What are you going to do?* Lucifer demanded.  
  
*Your own Life Light has left you, my descendent. In order to save you, I must become your new Light of Life.* Ancient answered in all seriousness.  
  
*But...then...* Lucifer whispered, taking a steep back in order to stead himself as his energy began to dwindle.  
  
*Yes, I shall disappear from this world forever. But, that is a price I am willing to pay to ensure that you, Lucifer, brother of my descendent Nina, shall continue to live, and to fight! To fight against the ever growing Darkness just as I did in my youth-filled days!* Ancient almost chuckled as old memories returned, but quickly pushed them aside. *What is your answer, Lucifer? Shall you do as I ask and live, or allow yourself to die?* Lucifer let out a sigh before slowly, for the first time ever, removing his helmet and reviling two sparkling blue eyes set deeply into, not a teenage looking face as one could have guessed, but in a more aged, refined looking face. I'd say he looked more like a 45 year old than a 15 year old. Well, tells yah to really not judge a book by it's cover.  
  
*...I shall open my mind to you... All my thoughts, feelings, memories, past, present, and future shall be laid out before you.*  
  
*More than that must be seen by my light! Even your very heart and soul must be touched if this is to work!* Ancient corrected harshly. Lucifer closed his eyes before opening them and locking his piercing gaze deep into Ancient's.  
  
*Then so it shall be.* Ancient let a soft smirk escape him, before growling and preparing to pounce.  
  
*Prepare yourself, for this...this shall hurt.* Lucifer replaced his helmet, took a deep breath of air, lowered his head in show of his submission, and clenched his fists as if to help him brace for what was next.  
  
*...I...am ready...* Lucifer whispered. Ancient let out a howl before leaping directly into Lucifer's heart. Lucifer's hand went straight to his heart, and he gasped out in pain. Much to his shock, his helmet snapped in half and fell right off his head, leaving his face completely exposed. Just as if a movie was being played backwards on Lucifer's time line, his features began to become more youthful and bright. He could just begin to feel not only this change, but other, subtle changes occurring throughout his body when Ancient's voice snapped him back on task.  
  
*...Concentrate on opening the doors, not on what is happening to your body...*  
  
Lucifer shut his eyes tight again and began to mentally throw door after door open in his mind, racing ahead of the ever growing glow that was Ancient's light. When he reached the door farthest from his consciousness, things got a bit more difficult. Namely, the door wouldn't open.  
  
*...Do not fear my light, embrace it... Let it pass through you, and this door shall open...* Lucifer mentally looked back at the light, and gasped as it floated right through his spirit and directly into the once closed door.  
  
"Hey, Ares! Hurry up!!" Lucifer blinked, looking down at who had spoken. A strange man hidden in shadows was calling to a different man in rather odd attire. The most prominent features of this strange man was that he had what looked like a blood red katana sword sheathed at his side and a blood red pearl earring on his right ear only.  
  
*...So I have done it...I have made it to your soul...* Ancient's voice whispered.  
  
*Ancient, is that...you?* Lucifer questioned.  
  
*Yes. Ten thousand years ago, I was Ares, the Lord of Peace and Destruction... Something no man knew save my ally, Corinth, was that I was not all human...*  
  
*Not...all human?*  
  
*...No...You shall...understand...once your heart...is re-forged...with my light...*  
  
*...How may I aid you...?*  
  
*Open the door to your heart, for I now see it...And do not fight that which comes after...* Lucifer gulped at that, but, in one mighty swing of his fist, he knocked down the seal to his heart for Ancient's light to enter.  
  
Back in the Hall of Lost Spirits, Lucifer had been brought to his knees in pain. His hand was still gripping tightly to his heart, but now, his other hand was pressed hard against the ground in an effort to stop him from eating mystic concrete. With a rip and a pop of cracking bones and ripping clothing, four of his six wings receded back into his back, and the remaining two, which were even with his shoulder blades, began to grow out in size until they were about as big as Bee's. What used to be human-like nails on his hands suddenly expanded and became claws; his once human ears began to shift upwards, becoming pointy and almost wolf-like in shape. In a gasp of shocked pain, Lucifer's K-9 teeth jutted forward into more beast- like wolven fangs. Shutting his eyes in pain and wrapping his now elongated wings around him, Lucifer fought back an urge to, as freaky as this will sound, howl.  
  
*...It...is done...* Ancient's now tired voice echoed weakly.  
  
*A-Ancient...You...You were...are...half wolf demon?!* Lucifer gasped, still trying not to howl.  
  
*Yes, my descendent... Now, let go! Let your newly changed spirit reflect our heritage! Let roar your power, and bring your body full turn with your spirit!* Ancient whispered. Lucifer forced himself to his feet, before slamming his wings open, releasing his grip from his heart, and letting out one of the longest howls ever heard by the dead. Without warning, an ash grey wolven tail suddenly slammed out from his clothing. Lucifer didn't notice, though, because he was too busy howling away with this new demonic power coursing through him. His howl suddenly stopped and was replaced by his near scream of pain as his spirit was sucked back down into his body. *...Go now...Protect...your little...sister...*  
  
Back in the realm of the living, I was just about to be joining Lucifer, or at least thinking I was going to be joining Lucifer, because I was 'this' close away from having my head cut off!  
  
"Ha! You're too upset to do any damage to me!" Stigmamon yelled evilly. "Now, go join you foolish friend in the afterlife!!" Right before he could stick me with a very nasty looking sword, a silver arrow slashed through the blade of his sword, ripping it from his grasp and sticking it against a wall.  
  
*Nina, Chaos Lord, don't get freaked out when you see me. Ancient had to do a bit of ...cosmetic work... to bring me back from the dead.* Lucifer stated plainly into my mind. I blinked slightly. His voice was...different now. Teenage sounding, obviously, but now it had a more...how to say this...a more beastly, wolfish, yet still soft, edge to it.  
  
"What?! Who did that?!?!" Stigmamon demanded.  
  
"I'll give you three guesses," Lucifer smirked. Stigmamon whirled around, and was nearly knocked back in to me out of complete shock. I sort of dodged getting squished when Chaos Lord managed to grab my hand and pull me out of the line of fire, and when we both looked up at where Lucifer was, our jaws hit the dirt.  
  
"L-L-Luci-Lucifer!?!?" Ah, to explain him now without going into an elongated paragraph! Well, here goes the explanation.  
  
For starters, he had no helmet, nor visible staff, nor Angemon looking clothing, nor anything that resembled the Lucifer that had existed before hand. Now, he had silver fingerless tight fitting gloves, a black tank top, a silver semi tight semi loose fitting pair of jeans, sheathed at his right side and tightly tied around his belt was a blood red katana, and, as not to be left out of the 'all cool human looking guys in my family have a pair of these' category, he had black biker boots, thankfully without the spikes. Clothing's out of the way, so let's talk physical. From the top down, his genuine looks, including his facial features, made him look as if he were my age. He had blood red eyes that seemed to cry out in primal wolfish furry, pointy wolf-like ears, a single blood red pearl earring was on his right ear, definitely a wolf's fangs, and wolven claws. Wings; like was said before, they were still black and now, he only had two of 'em which made him look almost like Bee, with a big almost here. His hair was now an off silver color and it remained relatively the same length, stopping directly above his ash grey wolven tail. Both me and Chaos Lord did a double take at that.  
  
"He's...got a tail!?" Chaos Lord gasped. Lucifer smirked with his face halfway hidden behind a glowing silver bow, before curling his lips in a very wolf sounding growl.  
  
"O-Okay, so you lived...." Stigmamon muttered as he began to regain his composure. "But...That don't mean I can't take your sissy out!" The arrows flew with such speed and accuracy that Lucifer seemed more elfish than wolfish. In two shots, Stigmamon's pants were stuck to the ground, and in another two shots, his shoulders were pinned against the rock wall. My jaw yet again hit the dirt.  
  
"Way to go, Lucifer!" I whistled, sheathing the Crimson. Lucifer released his grip on the bow and it vanished in a blur of black light as he descended down to a landing. Once he was grounded enough to grab in a hug, I was on him in a huge choker hug. "Okay, so where's great times a thousand gramps?" Lucifer's eyes turned down towards the ground.  
  
"...Ancient...sacrificed his very existence to bring me back from the dead..." Lucifer whispered. I felt my heart go right out my shoes at that one. Lucifer's eyes suddenly flashed crimson red, and at a barely audible whisper, he added, "...But his heart and his memories live on...here..." I sort of blinked when he pointed to his own heart. It then hit me like a ton of bricks what he was saying, and I lightened slightly.  
  
"Well, one out of two ain't bad, I guess."  
  
"You...You...You rat!!!" Stigmamon yelled, "I'll get you for this! You just wait! I will!!" Chaos Lord kindly knocked him out and grabbed the Crimson Jewel out of his pocket.  
  
"Now that that's over, let us return to Sanctuary. I'm sure the others will be twice as shocked as we were." Chaos Lord smirked. And who said Bee wasn't a driving influence in that mon?  
  
"One minor problem..." Lucifer muttered.  
  
"Yes?" Chaos Lord pushed.  
  
"...I...uh...Sort ah lost some abilities..." I shrugged and sighed at the same time to that one.  
  
"Oh well. What yah loose?"  
  
"Namely, the Darkness Shell..." I winced.  
  
"Okay, we'll just have to make do without it and I'll have to get used to being carried around everywhere in somebody's arms instead of in a bubble..."  
  
"Now that we've got that discussion out of the way, we should get going before sleeping beauty wakes up." Chaos Lord pressed.  
  
"Okay. Let's hit the skyway, Lucifer!" And without further delays, we had takeoff!  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Iniora: All done! How you like? Me no Baka anymore?  
  
PLEASE REVIEW!! 


	12. Chapter 12

Okay, here's chapter 12.  
  
Crossing Paths  
  
The Demon Lass  
  
So yeah... It's a wonderful day to be slaying Demon Megas and getting our butts whopped, don't you think?  
  
"Gah!!" I let out a minor shriek as a rather nice looking crimson colored dagger found it's home in the flesh of the Mega that had decided to try and take a bite out of me. Did I forget to mention that the dagger turned out to be a sword? And that it's end was about an inch away from my face? "Hey buddy, watch where you're...aiming...?"  
  
My eyes felt like they were gonna pop out of my head. This mon was cute, and I'm not talking cute as in a baby cute, I'm talking dating material cute! He looked kind of like the new Lucifer, only without the tail, crimson red hair down to his shoulders with rather cute looking demonic bangs, small fangs, and red eyes that sent a chill down your spine if you looked at him just right. His outfit was a rather snug looking piece of crimson and black armor, and he had a crystal shard serving as his earring on his left ear.  
  
*Earth to Nina, come in Nina. HELLO?!?!?!* Lucifer's mental shout snapped me back on task.  
  
"A human?" the mystery mon questioned, an edge of agitation in his voice.  
  
"Well duh. Who were you expecting, the original Athena?" I smirked, a twinkle in my eye. The newbie just sort of blinked at that. Lucifer, however, let out a silent moan.  
  
*Chaos Lord, I'll warn you now. Nina's found dating material.* Lucifer moaned mentally. I glared at him for that, to which Chaos Lord merely chuckled.  
  
"A bit ironic that the Keeper of the Crimson Items would find herself face to face with one of the Crimson Nobles, no?" Chaos Lord smirked. This Crimson Nobel guy withdrew his sword from the carouse, sheathed it, and turned to face him.  
  
"Chaos Lord. I was separated from Zedomon and the others. Crescent is making her way to the main throne room, and...MoonMachinedramon has been completed." Chaos Lord looked slightly dumfounded by this information, but slowly, he sheathed his own sword and demanded,  
  
"Whom, may I ask, are you?"  
  
"My name is Neo Crimson,"  
  
*Neo Crimson... Ah...* I let out a mental sigh. Lucifer walked over and whacked me up side the head, making Neo blink.  
  
"Hey! What was that for?!"  
  
"What do you think?" he smirked down at me, his tail swishing lightly in a teasing manor. Neo Crimson looked from him to me then back to Lucifer, his eyes wide in shock.  
  
"...I-Impossible... Lord...Ancient...?"  
  
"No, my name is Lucifer. It's a rather long story on why I look like Ancient, but it's going to have to wait for another time. Like you said, we've got to hurry to catch up to the others." Lucifer quickly stated.  
  
*That was mean!* I pouted in my mind, slashing through another enemy.  
  
*It'll be even worse if you don't start moving. After all, your 'eligible date' is making you look like a novice.* I looked ahead, and sure enough, Neo had cut down half the attacking forces.  
  
*So?! He's a Digimon! He's allowed to be stronger than me!*  
  
*If you ever hope to date him, then you'd better be able to handle yourself as well as he can in a fight.* Chaos Lord teased. My cheeks blushed bright red, and before anybody knew it, I was mowing down the enemies. Chaos Lord and Lucifer paused for a moment to exchange a blink.  
  
"We need to work on her motivation, don't we?"  
  
"Yep,"  
  
"Hey! Zedomon!!" My sudden laughter caught the two off guard, making them look back at me and blink. Sure enough, Frienze, Zedomon, and Bolt were all in the middle of a fight with a rather familiar witch. My laughter stopped there. "...Great...Crescent..."  
  
"Ah, so the Keeper of the Crimson Items has managed to make it this far! I thought that worthless fool of a general would have disposed of you by now..." Crescent smirked, an evil glint in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah well, I got one hell of a great times ten gramps to keep an eye on me." I laughed, pushing my hair back.  
  
"Now is really not the time to be chitchatting..." Zedomon whispered over to me. I closed my eyes and smirked.  
  
"I know,"  
  
*Nina? What have you got planed?* Lucifer demanded. I let out a little laugh.  
  
*How about a classic pincer move? That should get her.*  
  
*One problem; she can sense where we are.* Chaos Lord stated rather bluntly.  
  
*Not if I do that one magic trick I tried before. I'll cover you, you guys do the pincer, deal?* Chaos Lord and Lucifer exchanged a glance.  
  
*...Be extra careful, though...*  
  
*Like I'm not anyway?* I smirked, looking back over at him.  
  
"Oh, what's this? Thinking that I wouldn't be able to tap into your little telepathic line?" Crescent smirked, her staff glowing. "I've got quite the present for you three fools. It's a famous technique among us Black Waltzes, known for it's ability to split the mind and soul of the same person and force them back into the past."  
  
"...Dam! She knows that spell..." Chaos Lord cursed, bracing himself for an attack.  
  
"Oh, I do indeed. The Spell of Past... For you!" One big black bolt of energy shot out, forcing Chaos Lord to raise his shield in hopes of blocking it. The whole field seemed to explode then implode, then explode again, leaving nothing but dust to cover the fighters. Chaos Lord blinked when he saw that nothing had happened to him, and instantly began to look around the field. When his eyes hit who the target was, or to be more exact, where the target should be standing, his heart hit the bottom of his shoes.  
  
The witch let out cackle after cackle when she saw the look on everyone's face. Her Spell of Past had been cast, but not on Chaos Lord...on me. Chaos Lord felt as depressed as Lucifer looked, Neo seemed emotionless, as too did Zedomon and the others.  
  
"I hope you had a chance to say goodbye to your sister, you two fools!" Crescent cackled, tipping her head back in laughter. Her laughing was cut short by a grand wolf howl echoing from the still scorched and smoking earth where I had been standing, and a feeling of pressing magical energy that seemed three times too grate began to slam out around the area. Everyone gulped.  
  
Several orbs of black energy suddenly appeared around the smoke-covered pillar, making everyone gulp, including Crescent. Two glowing crimson eyes suddenly snapped open through the smoke, signaling the orbs to chase their prey. The six orbs stopped short of hitting my friends and relatives, hovering in an almost confused manor around their heads before finally settling on attacking Crescent. She let out a shriek of pain when the first orb hit, and showed her true colors when the others gave chase.  
  
"No one, move..." Lucifer whispered in warning.  
  
"...That energy..." Bolt gulped, somehow seeing something familiar in it.  
  
The wind began to blow away the smoke, reviling not me, but some other being. It was female, standing on tall grayish-silver wolf legs that made it as tall as Lucifer's mid chest. Claws in replace of human nails on human hands were bared, fangs set in an otherwise human mouth gritted in anger and pain, and wolf/cat like ears twitched in all directions in show of annoyance from the top of its head. Long silver hair that stopped just before the human shoulder blades fluttered lightly in the wind, adding a silver colored aura-like effect for the background, while a long silver tail whisked to-and-fro in a steady rhythm of anger, and the only thing it had for clothing was a black and silver sports bra and pure black ripped shorts. Demonic blood red eyes, once beast like, were beginning to soften in to tears as the more human side of the beast began to reawaken.  
  
Lucifer saw those tears first, closed his eyes and nodded his head slightly in recognition, and began to move forward towards the beast.  
  
"Lucifer, stay back! It might attack!" Firenze warned.  
  
"Oh, I doubt that." Lucifer sighed, almost sadly. "Don't mind us; keep moving. Memoria needs your aid more than we need your company."  
  
The others stood fast as Lucifer approached the beast. It stiffed, backing away slightly while fighting back tears. It seemed to shake its head no as if it had heard some call to go to Lucifer, continuing to back away from him till it couldn't move any farther back. Bolt took that cue to run, dragging Firenze and the others with him. It didn't even notice that they were gone, but stared wide-eyed at Lucifer as he stopped a few feet away from it. It shut its eyes, tensing as if it were concentrating on something.  
  
*Nina!! Don't you dare cut yourself off again!* Lucifer snapped mentally. The beast opened her eyes again, looking at Lucifer with fear, worry, pain, echoing as clearly as day. He rested his hand against its shoulder for a few moments, sympathy echoing in his eyes for it, before grabbing it tightly in a hug and hiding all but her tail with his wings. It began to sob in Lucifer's grip, holding tight to his jacket and pushing her head against his chest. I finally let go and admitted it.  
  
"L-Lucifer...!" when the beast opened its mouth, my voice came out in a squeak. Lucifer simply sighed, patting my back lightly in a sympathetic gesture.  
  
"It's alright, Nina... It's alright..." Lucifer whispered, resting his head between my ears. I continued to sob against his shirt, pulling myself even closer to him.  
  
*...What am I now...? Some kind of a freak...?* I questioned mentally; even my mental voice sounded like it was about to crack in sadness.  
  
*No, Nina, you are not some kind of freak!* the way he countered that made me wince slightly. Lucifer continued on with a softer edge in his tone. *Do you remember when Ancient used a power called 'Awaken' on you after you first closed yourself to the rest of the world?*  
  
I nodded my head slowly against his shirt.  
  
*That power did more than reopen the mental link for us; it awoke what little bit of demon blood you had in your veins. When Crescent tried to use the Spell of Past, she forgot to take your demon blood into account and made it so that your demon blood could take control of your body, changing you into a Youkai.* Something across the metal link on Bee and Black's side made us both gasp, our eyes snapping open in unison out of shock.  
  
*What was...that...?* I whispered mentally.  
  
*They couldn't...they can't...?* Lucifer stuttered. I looked up at him, whipping away the last of my tears, and blinked.  
  
"What? What's wrong?" I demanded verbally. Lucifer looked down at me as best he could, his eyes wide in awe.  
  
"Bee and Black...."  
  
* * * * * * * * 10 Minutes Before the Spell of Past * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
....And Lars and E-Vie were still stuck to a tree...  
  
"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna forget about 'em? You're not even going to try and take revenge on whoever woke up your Dark Modes?" Bee growled in anger.  
  
"Personally," Black growled, adding in his two cents, "I'd say they are cowards and forgetful fools; forgetting their parents and discarding their memories as if they were nothing."  
  
"We haven't...!" E-Vie was cut short when Black pushed her deeper into the tree.  
  
"You haven't, have you? Then why are you and your brother allowing us to hold you here as if you had no will left to live! Even as we speak, the Shrieking Shack is under heavy attack by Elrond's forces." Black snapped.  
  
"If you two don't get your rears in gear and prove that you've got your acts back together, then we might as well kiss our friends' rears goodbye! We need every mon up to full strength, and havin' you two in the middle of a pity party like me, Black, and Lucifer were after Nina disappeared is the," he paused so that he could add extra emphasis to the last part of his sentence by throwing Lars across the field again, "Last dam thing we need right now!!"  
  
Much to his doubled shock and joy, Lars back flipped through the air and landed on his feet in a crouched position. The younger mon withdrew both of his blasters and discarded them before standing up again, a new fire raging in his eyes.  
  
"I ain't gonna let you call me a coward, not when father made me promise to keep on livin'." Lars growled, spreading his claws in show he was ready to attack. Bee smirked at that, tossing his own blasters aside to make the fight fair.  
  
"Yah know, you both remind me of your pop; stubborn idiots till the very end." E-Vie sort of blinked at that, before anger got the better of her fears and guilt and she kicked Black off her.  
  
"Take that back about my father!" she snapped, guns drawn. Bee was a little distracted at the moment, with Lars charging at him and all, to deal with her, so Black kindly punched her in the face and kicked her blasters off where Bee's were.  
  
"I'm sure he would kindly do so if it were not the truth," Black smirked, although you couldn't see it from behind his face mask.  
  
It wasn't long before both had a nasty set of cuts and scrapes on their firsts and arms, and the twins had the upper hand. Bee and Black stood back to back, staring down their respected opponents with a slight twinkle in their eyes.  
  
*I would guess to say you managed to snap them back on task, Bee.* Black smirked mentally.  
  
*Yeah, well, I'm starting to regret the fact I called Rouge an idiot to their faces.* Bee smirked back teasingly.  
  
*You were simply telling them the truth. It's not your fault they dislike it so much.* Bee just shrugged at that one.  
  
*Eh,*  
  
"And what the hell are you two thinking about?" Lars growled.  
  
"Ah, just how we're gonna explain to Rouge when we eventually head on up that it was us that had to send you and that pathetic fighter of a sister to an early grave when we were just trying tah get yah back in check." Bee smirked, a dark twinkle in his eye.  
  
"That's it!" E-Vie boomed. Both she and Lars charged out at the two, and both hits were about to connect, when something happened that made all combatants and spectators stop what they were doing.  
  
Bee and Black's eyes had suddenly snapped wide in shock, and the both of them had doubled over in pain in unison. Lars and E-Vie instantly stopped their attacks mid kick and punch, and instead of hitting their would-be teachers, the helped steady them.  
  
"What's wrong?" Rico demanded instantly, running out to try and help as much as he could with Kimber, Wyna, and Wick right on his tail.  
  
"Good question~!" Bee gasped, his voice cutting off mid-word as another blast of pain shot through him.  
  
"...Nina...!" Both Black and Bee exchanged a look and gasp of shock as it finally clicked what was happening.  
  
"Huh?" Tosh blinked, rubbing the top of his head in confusion.  
  
"Nina...is in pain...! And we...are feeling the blunt end...of it!!" Black hacked, holding tight to his gut in pain. A sudden boom of power replaced the pain, making the both of them gasp again and their eyes light up like little white light bulbs. Wick quickly pulled Lars back, who in turn pulled Rico back, leaving Wyna to cause a similar female domino effect with E-Vie and Kimber.  
  
"W-What's happening to those two!?" Heather gulped.  
  
"They couldn't be...Spirit Digivolving!?" Dae gasped, taking a step back in shock.  
  
Both Bee and Black began to glow in the same white light, their physical forms breaking apart and forming into a single form. Chaos Lord slowly began to appear in the light, kneeling down on one knee with his eyes closed, only, this was definitely not the normal Chaos Lord. His armor reflected Bee's healing ability, meaning that it was now pure white, etched with lines of silver and grey. His shield was absent, his sword seemed to be even redder with crimson hues lined and dashed in intricate patterns with silver lacing, and his hair, still demonic red, had lengthened so that it was down to about the middle of his back. With a silent boom of power and a gasp of shock, Chaos Lord's eyes snapped open, reviling them to still be their familiar amber color. His hand instantly went to his racing heart in an effort to calm it's almost erratic beat.  
  
"...Wow..." was all Heather could say, where as Dae was shocked witless and wordless.  
  
"C-Chaos...L-Lord...?!?!" When Dae squeaked out his name, Chaos Lord looked over at him, making him feel as if he had just been pinned down by another curse spell. The combined form of Bee and Black smirked slightly, making the Demon Lord Digimon blink.  
  
"You've never seen my two parts as this whole, have you?" Chaos Lord smirked. He slowly stood up, the strange new, yet familiar, feelings of power telling him everything that he needed to know. "We can wait no longer. We must press forward to the Sacred Sanctuary as quickly as possible."  
  
*...C-C-Chaos...L-L-Lord....?*  
  
Chaos Lord shut his eyes the moment he heard my mental squeak, concentrating on my mental voice with all his energy. He almost surprised himself when he managed to see me as if I were standing right next to him with half the effort it normally took. Thankfully, he only did a mental double take.  
  
*N-Nina?! L-Lucifer?!?! What happened to you two?!* I sort of gulped.  
  
*Long story short; Nina's a demon, I was saved by her great, great, great...* I clammed Lucifer up there.  
  
*I got a great times ten gramps who accidentally awakened my demon blood and who was a spirit that saved Lucifer after he got his heart ran through by some higher-up general dude in Elrond's army, and yes he has an army now, with the witch Crescent who has really ticked me off as his main magic advisor who really screwed up a spell she was casting to lock my soul and Athena's in eternal torment which instead of killing me allowed my demon blood to turn my body into the body of a Youkai, and that's it in a nutshell. What's up with you?* Boy was I glad you didn't have to breath when speaking mentally!  
  
Chaos Lord sort of blinked, before shaking his head clear of cobwebs.  
  
*We're stuck outside of Sacred Sanctuary due to the fact both Rouge and Alara are dead.* he stated bluntly.  
  
*Take the route through Ancient's Forest. It's shorter, and with the amount of gems you have now, it should be relatively easy to unlock from the outside. Nina and I will double back to meet you at the gates.* Lucifer explained.  
  
*And don't tell 'em I'm a demon, kay? I want to make that a surprise!* I laughed, feeling a slight bit more like myself.  
  
*Alright then, I won't and will. We'll meet you at the gates.* And with that now out of the way, Chaos Lord opened his eyes just in time to see Heather standing up on her tip toes waving her hand in front of his face. Dae nearly had a heart attack when Chaos Lord grabbed her hand and gently pulled it away from him.  
  
"I was in the middle of a conversation, dear lady, hence I was zoned out." Chaos Lord explained, a slight smile on his lips. Heather gulped, almost running back over to Dae in fear. Chaos Lord let out a sigh, before turning to the others. "Due to the fact we can no longer take the direct route, and that our presence is needed in Sacred Sanctuary now, we're going to have to take a shortcut through Ancient Woods."  
  
"Ancient Woods?! That's insane!" Dae snapped out before he could clam himself up.  
  
"Normally, yes; with Nina and Lucifer saying that they'll be there to help open the gates to the Land of the Forgotten Kings, it's only half as insane as it sounds." Chaos Lord almost laughed.  
  
"Well, all in favor of insanity, say I." Rico joked.  
  
"I," Dae and Heather exchanged a look, before slowly agreeing.  
  
"I-I guess we could tag along too, if you don't think we'll be a burden..." Heather gulped.  
  
"Are you kidding? The more the merrier, yah know?" Tosh laughed, slinging his arm around the girl in a teasing fashion.  
  
"By any chance, does this wood happen to have demons and other possessed hell-monsters in it?" Renamon asked, obviously for Jennifer. Chaos Lord looked over at the girl, and with a mischievous smirk dancing in his eye, he said,  
  
"Only the friendly kind,"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Back where Ancient lived.....  
  
"Nina! Come on! We don't have all day!!" Lucifer almost screamed up at me.  
  
"Ah, keep your fangs in! And while you're at it, get rid of these for me, will yah?" I huffed, tossing down the old pair of ripped jeans I had worn. They landed right on Lucifer's head, making him cough and toss them into what he had called a Firewood – a tree that never stopped burning.  
  
"What are you doing up there?" He demanded. When I gave no answer, he slowly started to ascend up to the old house. His jaw hit rock bottom.  
  
"Well, how do I look?"  
  
"...Like Ares, only with a tail and fangs and no earring..." Lucifer whispered.  
  
My outfit was now a black and silver feminine top piece of armor, with a more wolven-shaped pair of black jeans I had found lying around somewhere. The Crimson was still where it had always been, only now, you could just barely make out the top part of the Jewel peaking out over the top of the silver-lined black shoulder guard.  
  
"I take it that's a good thing then?" I smirked. Lucifer merely nodded in answer. "Great! Let's go scare the others!"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Iniora: You have been warned; the next chapter starts off with comedy 


End file.
